


Nameless

by DoodleStation



Category: My Hero Academia
Genre: Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Cute Midoriya Izuku, Fluff, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 31
Words: 63,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25503193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoodleStation/pseuds/DoodleStation
Summary: Usually we associate faces with names.Learning names is sometimes difficult but we manage to learn faces and names when learning more about that person. When you hear a name, you associate other things with it as well like personality or maybe their favorite color.Deku was the name he was given.No first name, no last name.Just Deku.It didn't bother him, though he wanted to know who he really was, who he is other then just Deku.Before that, he has to overcome his fear and memories that haunt him day and night. All of the bad things he had to endure, those things happening when he was supposed to be having fun. He was supposed to have a childhood but instead he received a free ticket to hell.Despite his hardships, he still has a dream to be a hero.It's a lot on his plate but he'll deal with it if it means saving people in the end.People like himself.
Relationships: Midoriya Izuku & Class 1-A, Midoriya Izuku & Everyone, dekubowl - Relationship
Comments: 22
Kudos: 180





	1. Living With Him

Cold.

That's how the floor felt beneath him, but he didn't mind. It's not like he wasn't familiar with the cold anyways. The cold glares and empty feeling he felt was very much like the floor beneath him. It was fine though, he was used to it. He needed to be stronger. He needed to prove to _him_ that he was worth something.

He shakily stood up as he came to, trying to balance himself as much as possible. But then there was something. Something _warm_. Though he was used to the cold, he was also very much familiar with warmth. Though, the warmth wasn't as great as you would expect it to be. It wasn't the nice warmth of the sun beaming down on you, or the hug of someone who gave off affection. He didn't know if warmth could ever have a positive meaning. Because the only warm he felt was his own blood trickling down his porcelain skin.

He looked to his right, seeing narrowed eyes glancing at him, unimpressed. He was used to it. The cold eyes that glared holes into him everyday, expecting him to do better than what he was currently doing. The man glanced down at the timer he had at hand.

"All that training and it took you a whole hour to regain consciousness? Pathetic," the man glanced back at the clock a split second before turning back to the boy, "You're lucky I still have time left. Get into position." Surely he wouldn't make the boy fight after getting knocked out, right?

 _Wrong_.

But the boy seemed to pay no mind to the absurdity of the command; he simply obeyed. It's not like the boy had any say in the matter.

"Start."

The boy complied, charging at the man. The taller male had activated his quirk, throwing the boy off guard. They weren't supposed to be using their quirks at the moment, it was supposed to be a simple hand to hand combat exercise. But of course there had to be an unpredictable wild card thrown at him. Now he had to dodge things, great. The boy clenched his fists tighter at the thought, but proceeded to lunge forward for an attack.

* * *

It was a bad move on his part.

 _He_ had left, leaving the boy to his own devices. He was supposed to clean up the mess he made in the training room before his tutor had arrived. So for now, he was alone.

Thoughts clouded the boy's mind as he began to wipe the blood on the floor from his, now bandaged, right arm. He scrubbed the wooden floor, thoughts buzzing through his mind as usual. And that's where they usually stayed–inside of his head. He never voiced out his thoughts; no one would bother to listen or even spare a glance in his direction anyways. It was better that he kept to himself, it would draw attention to him–attention was something he hated.

His thoughts subsided as he finished up cleaning the wine red blood that was splattered on the floor from training. Though blood might be an alarming site to most, the boy was used to it. Training usually resulted in _something_. Whether that be progress, bruised, broken, or bloodstained limbs; there would still be something that showed that he had trained. The boy's eyes shift to the door of the training room. He stands up and leaves.

* * *

Silence filled the room.

The only thing that could be heard was the pen moving across the paper. The tutor had come and gone, teaching what she was required and assigning work to the small boy. The lady had always been strict and stern; her eyes were always narrowed and expecting, just like _his_ but the round faced boy couldn't help but notice something different in her eyes. They held an emotion, different than _his_. The boy couldn't place a finger on it, he couldn't tell exactly what emotion it was, but it surely wasn't anger. Her eyes weren't dull like the boy's either, so what was it?

The boy placed his pen down, standing up and making his way towards the closest available mirror. A short, thin, green haired boy was there, mimicking his movements as he looked in the mirror. He stepped closer, the freckles that were dusted on his cheeks were more noticeable as his eyes darted around, looking upon himself in the mirror. His eyes were quite wide despite the fact that they were partially closed. His eyes were a pool of emerald green, with a tint of teal contrasting against the green. Yet, with the beautiful colors that clashed so well together, his eyes still appeared to look...unpleasant. They were dull and void of any emotion. Despite that, they weren't noticeable compared to the bruise that had covered his cheek. It was a mix of yellow, blue, and purple; something that shouldn't be on the face of a four year old.

He didn't understand his appearance. It was not like his so called _father's_. Well, it's not like the boy was allowed to call him that. He would always address him as 'sir'. " _You don't deserve to have the family name until you prove yourself. Therefore, you don't deserve the title of being my son nor you calling me father._ " The boy's stomach felt empty at the memory. It was drilled into his head ever since he learned how to comprehend the words and their meaning. The emptiness, however, wasn't like the one he had felt when he was hungry, this was different. And the greenette certainly didn't like the feeling.

The boy sighs softly, glancing back at his reflection one more time. He still couldn't understand the look in the women's eyes, it was an emotion unfamiliar to him.

He had returned to his studies, it's not like he had much else to do. It was the same routine: Wake up, eat, prepare for training, train, wash up before tutor arrives, learn, do assignments, eat, continue studies, train, eat, prepare for bed, sleep. Of course, the schedule would fluctuate if _he_ wasn't home for training at the specified time.

The same thing, day by day even before he had his quirk. It started at three, as unbelievable as it sounded, but the boy thought of it as normal. At least three was the age that he guessed. If he was honest, he didn't exactly know his age; everyday passed by like a blur, they all seemed to mix together. It was hard for him to think of a time before he had fallen into the normal routine that he follows so strictly. It was hazy to him, yet he knew what he was meant to do. _Kids should listen. Be obedient. They should listen to the adults without resistance. Quirks are made for people to get stronger and some people are just strong. But I'm not. I'm weak, so I have to build my way up so I can be recognized as someone._

His thoughts seemed to grow stronger everyday, just like his ever expanding knowledge of things around him. But he just learned what he needed to know; things that would help him achieve the first big goal that was set for him: Making it into UA.

* * *

He sat alone in the training room and glanced up at the time. It must've been one of those days where _he_ was caught up in hero work, therefore training would be pushed back to a later time.

It made the boy irritated.

Yet, he waited ever so patiently in the middle of the training room's cold floor. He wouldn't want to be in his room when his father had stormed into the house, down the hall, and into the training room to see that his 'son' wasn't present. The boy had already learned his lesson the first time he had made that mistake. His small and delicate hand went over his chest, recalling the memory that was engraved in his brain.

His eyes flickered back to the clock after a long while. He heaved himself up off the floor, making an irritated grumble as he went to change out of his workout clothes. It's not like he enjoyed training, but he surely enjoyed sleep. And missing morning training meant double the amount of nightly training, meaning he would lose sleep that he reluctantly sacrificed in favor of getting stronger.

It seems like his sleep was not interrupted for training.

This was a shock to the boy when he had woken up with the sun poured through his window, enlightening his room with beautiful reddish-orange and yellow hues. He _never_ missed training. His _father_ made sure of it, even if it meant kicking him awake in the middle of the night.

Then he sensed something. It didn't seem right.

That man's presence...just wasn't there. There wasn't a single noise throughout the house and that notified the boy that something was off. He pulled the covers off of himself and looked around and spotted a familiar bag peaking out of his closet.

It was an emergency bag.

His father never explained why one was necessary, but he always told him to have one at hand something were to happen. Was that something happening now?

Months–no.... Years? Yeah, years passed since he was told to prepare the emergency bag. It was around the time that he received that injury on his right arm, leaving blood on the floor. The same day he tried to figure out the weird emotion that was in the tutor's eyes.

Then he heard it.

There was shuffling around the house, but the boy knew it wasn't _him_. No....this person's presence felt a bit warmer than _his_ , yet it was still cold. The greenette heard doors opening and closing, so he carefully hid himself, making sure he still had a way to escape if needed. His bedroom door opened, revealing a figure with something covering their face.

"Come out, I know you're in here," the voice was low, most likely a guy's voice. "Don't make me look for you myself. _He_ sent me here to get you. He said to bring your emergency bag as well. Whatever that means," The man stated. The boy didn't want to be caught disobeying an order from his 'father' so he stepped out of his hiding spot and quickly snatched up the bag. Afterwards, he had silently followed the man out to a car.

After a while of driving, they had finally arrived at their destination. The greenette didn't dare to ask or question anything, he just did as he was told. Eventually, he found himself in a room with a girl and a guy, and a couple other people were standing around. Oddly enough, _he_ wasn't anywhere to be found. The guy standing there spoke up, "Why don't you show him his room? And get him familiar with how things work around here."

The boy was staring at his feet until he looked up to meet golden eyes that were inspecting him. They looked fairly young, but not as young as the greenette. His emerald eyes trailed over to the person standing next to the guy with the golden eyes. There was a little girl standing there. She seemed nervous and anxious when the boy's gaze landed on her.

She had light grayish-blue hair along with a horn atop her forehead; it was on the right side of her forehead. She had blood red eyes that were very round. The browned haired male standing next to her noticed the two were examining each other.

"This is Eri. You are to take care of her."


	2. Rescue

"It's okay, I'm fine, Eri," The greenette brushed off the new bruises he sported from training. He didn't know it was possible, but training here was far more brutal then training with _him_. It was fine though, as long as Eri was safe, then there was no problem, right? She was safe, at least that's what he was told.

She always wore a loose long sleeved shirt and loose pants, covering her bandaged arms and legs. She was never allowed to tell the greenette what they did to her while he was training. If the boy found out...well..it wouldn't be good.

The freckled faced boy was very strong considering the intense training he's been through since he was a kid. Which is exactly why he isn't allowed to use his quirk unless it is for training. When he's not training, he has quirk nullifying bracelets.

He's still allowed to learn; he has a tutor and books available to him. Surprisingly, the villains had their own library–though the greenette wasn't aware that he was in the hands of villains.

Currently, he was in his room, and when Eri had heard that he returned from training, she left her own room and decided to stay in his. It's not that she liked the room, more so the person in the room.

Deku was his name–at least that's what he claimed it to be. Although Overhaul wasn't buying it, so he came up with his own name for the boy, Sobakasu(freckles in Japanese). Eri didn't like the name, especially since it was made by a person that caused her so much pain, so she stuck with calling him Deku. It was shorter and easier to remember; she thought it suited him.

She crawled into the bed and sat near the beat up greenette. They sat next to each other, with Deku sitting up against the bed frame while Eri leaned on him, enjoying the warm feeling he always gave off.

They both slowly started to drift off until Deku felt something was off. He wrapped his arm around Eri and looked towards the door of the room. Then, a loud explosion was heard throughout the building.

* * *

Nighteye was doing patrols with his student–well Nighteye was the blond's mentor. The intern was Mirio Togata–hero name: Lemillion–, a third year at UA. The school year had just started, so Nighteye needed to show the young hero how things worked. Things were going smoothly; there seemed to be nothing wrong, though Nighteye knew that was not the case.

The hero knew there was a dangerous group that was staring to manufacture bullets that would erase someone's quirk. The only thing they knew is that it was the doing of a group called the Yakuza, in which a person by the name of Kai Chisaki was the leader. Beyond that, they had no other information, but they at least had a general idea of where the bullets were manufactured at. Nighteye scanned the bustling streets before something, or _someone_ ran into him. The man was holding several documents, in which they were then scattered on the sidewalk in an instant.

Nighteye apologized as he and Lemillion tried to assist the civilian. The man, however, pushed away the help offered to him as he scrambled to get the papers up, not even caring about how they were arranged in the pile.

Nighteye had a gut feeling that there was something off about this guy, so he grabbed his shoulder and got his attention. "I apologize for not watching where I was going." The man seemed a bit startled but curtly nodding before he bid farewell and stormed off.

* * *

Complete and utter chaos.

Shouts and yells were heard throughout the building. And at that moment, Overhaul barged into the room along with a guy with a mask and white clothes. "Eri come here," the man with the brown hair ordered. She simply shook her head no as she clung onto Deku, who was right by her.

"I want to stay with Deku..." she whispered as she buried her head into his chest, earning a pained groan from the greenette. It wasn't noticeable since it only lasted a second, but Eri had heard it.

The man began to get irritated with the girl so he pulled at his glove, earning an immediate reaction from Eri. Overhaul turned to the greenette, who was still sitting on the bed, wearing a blank face. "I'm assuming you heard the commotion. Go fight off the bad guys," he stated as the man in the white clothes scooped up Eri. She heard the order and panicked a little, "But he can't use his quirk with those-"

She was interrupted, "Then I can fight without them." Deku stood up and bowed before walking past the three to find where the fight was. He started jogging towards the fight.

"Sobakasu," Overhaul called after him. Deku turned around to face the man. "Find us when you're finished."

The greenette nodded as he turned around and made his way in the direction of the fighting. Then, the walls started to shift, making the platform he was standing on all wonky. He recognized the quirk, since he had trained with the person who owned said quirk. He heard a strange noise from down the hallway. He skillfully moved around the strange looking hallway and moved closer to the sound. Eventually, the noise stopped. He paused in the hallway but felt someone's presence. One..? No. Two people.

In an instant, blue flames appeared in front of him, though some trailed up the wall. The greenette's eyes followed the trail, but flickered back over to where he was looking before. There was a guy with black hair standing there. "Ah so you don't get easily distracted, huh? Is that why crusty wanted us to collect you?"

 _Us?_ Deku thought as he felt another presence behind him. He acted quickly and avoided being hit by the person. He noted his surroundings and hoisted himself up to a pipe that would make it so he would have the advantage of being up higher. He watched their every move as he contemplated what he would to next. He didn't exactly know the girl's quirk, but it was obvious that the boy's quirk had to do with fire. Deku knew how to deal with him, so he decided to act.

His plan didn't work out.

As soon as he attempted to jump towards the black haired male, blue fire moved in his path, burning him slightly. The greenette hissed in pain, the heat making the injuries on his body worse than before. He got up quickly, not wanting to lose the fight. He had to be there for Eri and he wasn't about to lose her to a fight with villains.

* * *

The young hero limped down the hallway, with the scared girl walking next to him. He was a _hero_ , something she's been waiting for ever since she arrived at this horrible place, but she felt like everything was so _wrong_.

A little while later, she was safe with the heroes. Someone by the name of 'All Might' had defeated Overhaul when he went on a rampage(Note: this takes place before the Kamino incident but after the USJ). Eri felt uneasy; she had used her quirk on Togata after he suffered a broken bone thanks to Overhaul. Even if he was rendered quirkless now, he still tried to fight with all he had. She couldn't stop her quirk, no matter how hard he tried, so she cried as she clung onto the blond boy. Thankfully, Aizawa was there to stop it before any damage was done. She was then taken to the hospital along with the people who were injured during the rescue, some more than others.

She woke up in the hospital, looking around for something. The bed by her had felt cold, a feeling she was unfamiliar with. She's gotten used to curling up next to the greenette as she slept; she had been doing it for the past year, ever since she had that nightmare one day.

_Deku's room was right next to hers, but he had heard light sobbing as he stared up at his ceiling, unable to get sleep. He sat up and looked towards the wall that, on the other side, had Eri's room. The greenette looked back down as he contemplated what he should do. Why was she crying? Surely she should have gotten used to how things worked, right? Though, he realized Eri was different than him. She never had to do training like he did. Maybe it was because of her quirk? The freckled faced boy paused when he heard another small sob on the other side of the thin walls._

_He gripped the sheets beneath him before deciding to go to her room. He peeled off the mint green blanket and moved his legs to where they were hanging off the bed. He hissed in pain as he felt the pain from his injuries he had sustained earlier. He quickly hid his pain behind a blank face; he wasn't supposed to show any sign of weakness. His 'father' had taught him that years ago. Speaking of which, where was he?_

_Deku shuffled across the tiled floor and exit the room, making his way over to the one next to his. He heard a small gasp when he had stopped in front of her door. That was the day he learned about a new emotion: fear._

_He hesitantly opened the door, noting the huge bed that sat in the middle of the room. On the bed was Eri and she was visibly shaking with tears staining her face. The greenette's eyes widened a little in surprise–he didn't know how to deal with situations like this. He moved closer but stopped when realizing the girl had tensed up more. He spoke quietly, "I'm not gonna hurt you, I just want to know why you're crying." She eyed him suspiciously, her face still flushed from the crying she was doing. She finally let him move closer, indicating that when she scooted over to make room for him on the bed._

_Now he was hesitant. It wasn't his bed, was he even allowed to be in here? He might get in trouble if he was caught disobeying orders, but at the same time, he knew how much help the girl needed. So he moved towards the bed and sat on the edge of it. Eri felt something different about this guy. He looked cold on the outside, but when he talked to her, he sounded so kind. And she noticed his warm presence._

_She moved closer._

_Deku's legs hung over the bed as he stared at the floor beneath him. He inhaled, trying to figure out what he should say. "Eri why are you-" he was about to ask his question when he felt something leaning on his back. "You're warm," she mumbled._

_The greenette grimaced at the contact, unfamiliar with it, but his back was also injured so he couldn't help but to wince. It seems as though Eri noticed. She quickly got off, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"_

_"Does doing that make you feel better?" Deku asked as he turned to the girl sitting on the bed behind him. She seemed a bit confused but nodded her head shyly. The greenette looked over at the room left of the bed and put his legs on it, scooting further into the bed. "If it makes you feel better, then I don't mind," he stated as he looked over to the girl who was sitting up beside him. The boy noticed something in her eyes change after he said that, though he didn't comment on it. She waited a second before curling herself next to him, like she did before._

_Deku sighed as he pulled the pink blankets over them and drifted off to sleep._

Eri was brought out of her thoughts when she noticed an unfamiliar man standing in front of her, along with one of those nice ladies...a nurse–that's what she believed they were called. The man looked at her with a blank expression, though she could tell they looked scared for some reason.

"Why are you crying?" The black haired male asked as he sat down at the edge of the bed, just like Deku had done back then. She burst into tears after that, with the only word she said was,

"Deku..."


	3. Afterwards

The male had tried to calm the girl, but she just kept crying and asking for this 'Deku' person. He eventually got her attention when he assured her, "Don't worry, I'm sure we could find him, now what does he look like?"

Eri looked up and tried to wipe her tears away as she sniffled, "W-Well he had wavy green hair a-and and freckles on his face." Aizawa tensed up at the description. _Deku_ was that monster of a person who had knocked out some of the pro heroes, and he didn't even seem to be using his quirk; Aizawa tried to erase it, but his power never went away. Maybe he was quirkless? They took him away with Overhaul; they would question both of them later.

Aizawa opened his mouth to speak when he noticed a blur out of the corner of his eye. He turned and noticed it was All Might in his non-buff form, but it seemed like the issue was important. The nurse motioned him to go, moving over to comfort Eri herself.

The tired man stood up from the bed and walked over to the blond, who, was oddly anxious. They walked out of the room, shutting it behind them as they walked down the hallway. "What's the problem?" Aizawa sighed. It probably wasn't the best statement to say at a moment like this, but the black haired male was just so tired from dealing with everything.

"The league of villains damaged the vehicles with Overhaul and that...guy..in it," All Might, otherwise known as Toshinori Yagi, explained. Aizawa seemed unfazed until the blond continued, "They _took_ the male with the green hair."

The league of villains were already a rising threat to UA; that was evident with the USJ attack that had happened recently, but if they had someone like him, then who knows how dangerous they might be now. Maybe it wasn't a big deal. Perhaps the quirk enhancing bullets worked on quirkless people as well? Aizawa was still concerned about the issue. The two looked at each other with worried expressions, realizing the danger they might be in. The black haired male bid goodbye as he turned back to Eri's room; he wanted to see if he could get more information on this Deku person.

* * *

It had been little over a week since they had rescued Eri, but she still asked about Deku every chance she had gotten. She knew that these people probably didn't know where he was at, but she still had some hope left.

Currently, Aizawa was doing paperwork as he sat in the room to keep Eri company. She spoke up, "Can we go back there?" The question was so sudden and absurd that Aizawa looked at her, confused. Why would she want to go back there? What for?

"What do you need? We can get you knew clothes and things so you don't have to use anything from _there_ ," Aizawa explained. Eri just looked to the side with a frown, "I wanted Deku's blanket..."

Aizawa was confused. He hadn't had the chance to question her about the greenette afterwards; she was sleeping when he got back, and throughout the week he had been busy. He suspected she had Stockholm Syndrome, so he decided to find out for himself. He took a second to put his words together, "Isn't he a bad guy though? You do know we are the good people, the heroes, right?"

Eri nodded her head at the second question and explained her question from earlier, "He isn't a bad guy. I don't think he knew that we were around bad guys. His job was to protect me from the 'bad guys' but he thought the bad guys were the heroes because you would take me away."

Aizawa nodded his head in understanding and noticed that Eri liked talking about this Deku person, so he decided to ask something else. "How long were you with Deku?"

The hero learned more about the greenette that they were currently trying to capture, even if it wasn't much. Surprisingly, Eri herself didn't even know much about the male, not even his age. She just knew he was someone she could trust. She told Aizawa what she knew and what he did to help her: He would train for most of the day and get hurt a lot, she wasn't allowed to tell him what happened to her as he trained, so he didn't know that her body was being used to manufacture weapons, he would always help her when she cried, and he wore these weird bracelets that stopped his quirk. She also mentioned that she wanted the mint green blanket he had in his room; it reminded her of him and maybe it would help her feel better.

Instead of making Eri return to that awful place, someone else went to retrieve the blanket Eri was so keen on retrieving.

Aizawa walked into her hospital room, where she was sitting with a white dress shirt, with a red pinafore, dark grey tights, and tan boots. She was finally able to leave the hospital. She had gotten better around people ever since her rescue, the people she was most comfortable around for now were Togata and Aizawa. Though, she still acted a bit off.

The black haired male locked eyes with her and she hopped off the bed, ready to leave with him. He noticed the little purse she had with her. Aizawa decided he wanted to surprise her so he waited until he was close enough and pulled the freshly washed blanket out from behind him.

Her eyes seemed to widen with surprise and gratitude. She looked up with a questioning look while Aizawa just nodded, gesturing for her to take the blanket. She took it from his hands and clutched it tightly. Afterwards, they headed to UA. Aizawa was glad that all of this stuff had happened after the sports festival; if it had happened before, he wouldn't have been able to prepare his students for it. But then that brings up another issue: internships.

* * *

"So you have everything planned out, right?" The guy with the spiky black hair asked. Deku learned his name was Dabi. The blond girl was named Toga, the male with the blue hair was named Shigaraki, the man with the mask was Twice, and the misty man was named Kurogiri. It had already been a couple weeks since he was taken by the villains. He didn't know their intention behind taking him back after he had been arrested, but he decided to play along for now.

He learned that he had been dealing with villains for a while, he just didn't realize. Deku nodded his head before glancing over to Dabi, who was smirking. Toga had giggled as she jumped in excitement, "Good job, Deku!"

The greenette looked stunned as she looked at her. He turned around in his chair he was sitting in, "Is...that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Uh..yeah? What you never got a compliment before?" Toga asked as she stepped forward. Deku shook his head no and went back to the pile of papers he had near him. He was in charge of planning things for the villains, even though he didn't like helping them. Though, he was glad about one thing; they couldn't make him use his quirk for their benefit, he still had his quirk cancelling cuffs on. He didn't try to take them off since he didn't know what would happen, so he was basically quirkless at this point. Shigaraki had tried to use his quirk and disintegrate them; it didn't work

It had been about a week since he had planned out the league's next attack, which would be executed today in Hosu City. Deku kept a close eye on everyone in the league, but observed that Shigaraki was being very secretive.

Before he planned the attack, there was this weird guy that Shigaraki had brought in to talk to; the guy had messy black hair but the color of his eyes was hard to see with the cloth surrounding it. When the guy entered the bar, Deku didn't really know what to do; the only ones left in the bar were him, Kurogiri, and Shigaraki. Dabi, Twice, and Toga went out to try and get new recruits, something Deku was not happy about.

He went to the back room and listened in on their conversation. From what he heard, Shigaraki was trying to get this guy on their side. He heard what sounded knives clashing together before there was a loud thump. He heard Shigaraki from the other side of the door, "Kurogiri take this guy back." Deku guessed that the two weren't in the best situation; it's not like he cared about them. Why should he? They threatened him just so he had no choice but to join them.

They didn't trust Deku at first, but he made up a fake convincing backstory to make it seem like he really was a villain; he even backed it up with being associated with Overhaul. Which was quite difficult for him to say.

He hated that man.

He was tricked into thinking he was a hero. That man? A _hero_? Not after he learned what they did to Eri. How exactly the League knew? Hell if he knows. The only thing he needed to know was that Eri was safe with the heroes now. And if he wanted to keep her safe, he would have to 'play nice' with the villains for now. What the villains didn't know was that Deku purposely made a flaw in every single attack he had planned; it wasn't too noticeable, but a hero would surely be able to figure it out, right?

He was yelled at after the guy had left.

"So you're telling me you couldn't help?" Shigaraki asked as he held his hand to his bloody shoulder; the man had stabbed it with his knife. Deku still held his blank expression as he shrugged and held up his hands, showing the quirk nullifying bracelets on his wrists. He earned a harsh slap on the face for that.

Currently, Shigaraki was preparing for the event in Hosu. Deku had noted that it was getting pretty late; why would they decide to do an attack at night? Not that he was complaining, there would be less people to hurt if it was nighttime–not that he wanted to hurt people anyways.

Apparently, Dabi, Twice, and Toga weren't supposed to go since it would be 'too boring' for them. Besides, Shigaraki was waiting for their next attack to 'use' them. The greenette was surprised when he heard his name called. He turned around to see the blue haired male looking at him, "You're coming with us."

Deku wanted to ask why but he bit his tongue. He was tossed a loose black hoodie. "Put that on. The heroes are looking for you and I really don't feel like getting you back if they do end up snatching you up," Shigaraki ordered before turning away. The greenette just stared at the sweater before reluctantly pulling it on. It was a bit big, but he could manage. Toga ran up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He turned towards her and gestured her to talk.

She gestured him to sit down on one of the stools. He cautiously walked over until he felt hands in his hair. "What are you doing?" He mumbled as he felt her sharply pulling at his hair. He winced.

"Oops. Sorry about that, but your hair is really tangled. Kind of like Tomura's but your hair is also curly!" She continued to fiddle with his hair as she answered his question, "Well if you do end up getting into a fight, you don't want your long hair getting in the way, do you? I'm putting it up for you, silly!" She hopped of the stool behind him after she had placed his hair up in a little bun; as best as she could, at least. Deku just nodded to her as a brief thank you before he placed the hoodie over his head. He walked over to Shigaraki who was waiting by the portal.

Then, he stepped through it.


	4. Escape

Screaming and the blazing fire was all you could see.

The city was swarming with a mix of citizens and pro heroes. The cause of all the chaos? That would be the Nomu that Shigaraki had let out to 'play'. Deku looked down at the scene, he felt as if someone was twisting his insides as he watched the scene, but he didn't bother to comment on that. Instead, he asked Shigaraki, "Why did you bring me here again?"

The crimson red eyes that were watching the scene in amusement flickered up to the greenette. "I just wanted to remind you why you're with the league in the first place. So what do you think?" The male's chapped lips twisted up into a sinister smile.

Deku's eyes went back to the scene, trying to come up with something that would sound villain-like. "I can't believe they have these many heroes just to take down a couple of nomu." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Shigaraki smirk, signaling he had said the right thing. The greenette mentally sighed in relief. His eyes wandered off to the part of the city that wasn't being consumed by flames. He noticed a faint glimmer of something... a knife? Then he had realized what city they were in.

During Shigaraki's conversation last week with the 'mysterious person', Deku heard one word that had caught his attention: hero-killer. The greenette decided to do some research on the guy in secret; Deku had learned about what the vigilante had done and other things of that nature. He had learned that the place with the most killings was Hosu city, where they currently were.

Deku didn't even think twice before bolting towards the faint glimmer of light. It seemed to be in a dark alleyway. He heard Shigaraki yelling at him, but he would just deal with that later. Apparently, Deku had caught someone's attention, so they followed him.

Deku looked down each alleyway as he jumped from roof to roof. He was keeping a close eye out for something, _anything_. That's when he felt a familiar presence and a voice, "Goodbye. You're an offering to a more just world." Deku recognized the voice as Stain's and quickly made his way towards that alleyway. He jumped down to a platform sticking out of the side of the building, and used it to propel himself towards the vigilante. He tackled Stain as he kicked him in the stomach, knocking him over with the force of his whole body. He made sure he wasn't getting close to the knife; he already had an idea of how this guy's quirk worked.

Deku was about to make another move when he noticed ice creeping up on him from the corner of his eye. He jumped out of the way, the hero killer did the same. "You're lucky I came here in time, the pros are on their way," a voice stated from down the alleyway. Deku looked over. _Another UA student..._

"I won't let you two kill him.." a dual haired teen spoke as he approached the scene. "Todoroki..?" The blue haired boy spoke as he laid on the ground. It appeared as though Stain was focused on someone else though. He recognized the emerald eyes and freckles on the greenette's face.

"You? Why are you here?" The hero killer growled as he clutched his knifes. Deku simply got into his fighting position as he glared at the vigilante. He didn't respond, he just charged at the man. The greenette ran towards him, signaling a very obvious frontal attack, which would have been very easy to counter if not for the fact that Deku had changed his direction a second beforehand; the knife had almost grazed him but he swiftly slid and rolled over so he would be behind the vigilante. His feet dug into the ground as he quickly launched himself towards Stain. He landed a punch on the guy, sending him a couple of feet backwards.

"You know, the thing I probably hate more than fake heroes are villains. I remember you from when I went to talk to that Shigaraki guy. Is that why you didn't bother to help him when I attacked? You're not really a villain, are you?" Stain asked as he grabbed his knife. "I guess I'll have to figure out what to do with you later, then," he smirked as he licked the blade. Deku felt himself freeze up as he fell to the floor. _What? When did he..._ He cursed at himself as he looked to the others. There were two UA students and one pro hero. Along with that, one 'villain' and one vigilante.

The greenette looked up to see more ice being fired towards the vigilante. Obviously, the ice wasn't doing much, just delaying the vigilante from getting any closer. The ice was being sliced up quickly by Stain. The vigilante charged at the ice wielder, aiming at the start of his arm, ready to cut it off. That is, until the blue haired teen had gotten in the way. Deku looked closer at the teen with the ice quirk, until he realized that he had _two_ quirks. He recognized the boy from the sports festival that Shigaraki had him watch to 'gather information' on the UA students. The greenette had throughly analyzed the quirks, mentally noting the strengths and weaknesses. He didn't want to write any of it down; someone in the league might find it.

Deku noticed something change in the hero killer's eyes. There was an unfamiliar spark in them that the greenette failed to recognize. The vigilante's movements became faster and sloppier. Deku kept trying to tap his hand on the ground, waiting for any sign of movement. The ice wielder had kept using his ice, but it seemed as though he didn't dare to use his fire. "Use your fire!" Deku yelled from the side of the alley.

The three continued to fight but the dual haired boy huffed as a small white cloud of air escaped his lips. _He's icing his ice side too much_ , Deku thought. "Using your ice isn't getting you anywhere, use your fire!" The heterochromatic eyed boy grit his teeth in response. The greenette felt his hand twitch and he immediately got up, ignoring the pain surging through his body. He watched as the hero killer prepared to throw his knife towards the UA student, so he acted quickly. He shoved them out of the way and was immediately hit with a small dagger through his arm and a knife going through his back. He screamed in pain as he fell to the floor, the two UA students watching in shock.

Deku's eyes flickered back to the vigilante, who was attempting to attack the students yet again. The greenette pulled the sharp objects out of his body, gritting his teeth in pain. "I don't care who you believe I'm associated with, but..." the boy stood up shakily as he faced the hero killer. "I will _not_ let you kill innocent people."

"You seem all talk, kid. Telling him to use his fire when you don't even seem to be using your own quirk. Now back to where-" the hero killer was cut off by the greenette trying to land a hit on him. Deku had missed as his arm brushed past the hero killer's face. _Just what I wanted_. He twisted his body and kicked towards the guy's legs, efficiently sweeping him off of his feet and knocking him down. Deku held him down as he put his hands on his neck. "I don't know why you think killing people will fix society. Society is broken because of people like you, who think they can carry out their own beliefs just because they view them as 'right'." The greenette pressed down on the spots he held onto with his fingers. Then, the hero killer went limp.

Deku stood up and turned towards the three, with his hood down, showing his mess of green hair. "You're okay, right?" He didn't direct the question towards anyone, he just said it in general. He didn't get a response to his question so he looked up to see the pro hero looking at him quizzically.

"You...You're that one guy from the Shie Hassaikai Raid, right?" The pro hero, Native, had asked as he stared at the greenette. Deku nodded, "So you know who Eri is?" The guy shook his head no, but the two UA students had nodded their heads yes cautiously. "Is she alright?" Another yes in response. The freckled faced male looked down at the hero killer.

"Tie him up before he regains consciousness. I really have to go; I shouldn't be here," Deku replied as he stared to limp towards the exit of the alley. Apparently, he wasn't going as fast as he thought he was. The three people caught up to him, dragging the hero killer behind them. The greenette picked up his pace, fighting through the overwhelming pain he had felt.

They were all at the entrance of the alley and Deku tried to slip away when the pro heroes had arrived. "Isn't that...?" He heard one of the pros trail off. He began to pick up his pace when he was grabbed by something. He felt its claws dig through him. He grunted in pain as he heard some people shouting from below. He felt his vision starting to go blurry as he noticed a blur running in the direction he was heading with the Nomu. He noticed that the bird creature was now descending. _At least everyone else is fine_ , he thought as his eyes fluttered. He felt a quick tug at the back of his hoodie and was pulled back. He felt his face being dragged across the concrete till he came to a stop. He looked to his right to see a knife through the Nomu's brain. Deku glanced up to see the hero killer panting as he rambled in about heroes and their place in society. He felt like sleeping, but he knew he had to stay up. He had to get _out_ of there.

The hero killer dropped his knife and froze after his speech. Deku watched as he tumbled to the ground, only a couple of feet in front of him. The greenette forced himself up and darted towards the closest alley with all of the energy he had left. He rushed down the alley and turned down another, trying to get as far as his legs could take him at the moment. He collapsed and then hid himself carefully. He evened his breathing out so no one could hear him.

He waited and waited. There were footsteps that were heard from down the alley, along with a bright flame. They seemed to linger around the area he was in. They stopped directly in front of the spot he was hiding in. Deku was currently brainstorming ideas about how he would be able to escape. He recognized the flames as Endeavor's, the number two hero. They couldn't have been Todoroki's; the dual haired boy never used his fire before. Deku decided on his plan. It was risky, but he was willing to take it.

When the hero turned his back, Deku took a piece of whatever he could find to make a loud noise and threw it off to the side of his hiding spot. It looks like the pro hero took the bait. Deku quickly got out of his hiding spot, scurried to the nearest exit, but started to propel himself upwards by using the small objects in the narrow alley. He made his way to the roof. He looked around and easily spotted Shigaraki and Kurogiri. He was grabbed by the back of his hoodie by something. He turned around to see Endeavor looking down at him curiously.

Deku felt the floor beneath him turning a different color. "Stand back," he warned the hero. The flame hero didn't listen, and instead gripped the greenette tighter, making him wince. "The floor. Let me go or you'll be taken." The hero didn't care. Deku felt a hand pull his ankle, making him sink down into the purple mist.

That's when Endeavor let go.


	5. A New Light

_Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip._

That was the only thing Deku could hear as he sat in the chair. His eyes started to flutter as the dripping noise continued. He was covered with all kinds of cuts and bruises, the dripping noise was his own blood leaking out of him. He heard a bunch of commotion in the other room, what sounded like arguing. The noise was quickly faded out as his ears started ringing and the corners of his visions began to darken.

He finally let the darkness consume him.

When he came to, he felt someone messing with the ropes that bound him to the chair. He lazily cocked his head back as his weary gaze landed on someone. His emerald eyes met ocean blue ones. "Leavvve me. Shigaraki mighttt hurt youuu," Deku slurred. His blank face was still present on his face even with the mass amount of pain he endured.

After getting back from Hosu, Shigaraki immediately took Deku down do a room that was meant for hostages. Though, the blue haired male had different ideas. He took the greenette and tied him to the chair, with everyone else still out, he didn't have to face questioning just yet. Shigaraki started by disintegrating parts of the boy's skin. Apparently, that didn't receive much of a response, just a small flinch. The man decided to take it up a notch. He grabbed a small dagger and made small cuts on the boy's arms, legs, and back. He earned a few hisses of pain that quickly changed back to the normal blank facial expression.

He was irritated.

He set the daggers down and grabbed two huge knives, taking one into his hand as he pointed the tip of the knife down on the greenette's thigh. Crimson red eyes met dull emerald green eyes as the blue haired male smirked and plunged the knife into the boy's leg. Deku felt the knife hit the bottom of the chair, pinning him in place. That earned a pained scream from the boy. The blue haired man grinned before taking the handle of the knife and twisting it. Shigaraki felt satisfied with the reaction and placed the other knife down, leaving the room.

So here he was now. Laying half dead in a cheap wooden chair. Definitely not how he pictured he was going to die. The soft and rough hands had finally untangled the rope and attempted to take the greenette out of the room before he noticed he was stuck in place by the knife being stuck to the chair. "I said leave me. You don't know..." black dots started to fill his vision. The last thing he noticed was a light blue blur enter the door.

"You wouldn't understand..."

* * *

She was hesitant.

Still, the blond male smiled as he looked at her with his cobalt blue eyes, patiently waiting for her to say something. She locked eyes with him and his smile only grew wider. She tugged at the hem of her red pinafore, slipping the fabric through her fingers as he other hand clung onto the mint green blanket tightly.

Lemillion was his name if she remembered right. He was one of the heroes that helped save her; he visited her from when she was in the hospital. He was admitted there as well, but he had recovered before Eri was allowed to leave.

"Can we...be friends?" She muttered shyly as she pulled the mint green blanket closer. The blond boy crouched down to her, giving her a warm smile.

"Of course, Eri! Do you want to hang out with me for a bit? Mr. Aizawa is a bit busy right now." She looked up and nodded her head yes.

The two headed towards the dorms, which were implemented at the beginning of the year; a precaution because of the possible increased risk of villain attacks. And it seems as though the school was right for doing so. With All Might teaching there, Nezu knew that it would come with its risks.

Togata held Eri's free hand as they walked to his dorm; they eventually made it there and headed to the blond's room. Everyone else was currently in school and Togata was taking some time off because of what had occurred during the mission. He walked over to the bed and sat down, motioning Eri to do the same.

He took out his laptop and typed in the password. Meanwhile, Eri was mesmerized by the glowing device. Her eyes glimmered with wonder as different pictures had popped up on the screen. The blond clicked on something and then something else, making the screen go black before the movie had started.

Halfway through the movies, Hado and Amajiki joined them on the bed, watching the movies together. Togata looked over to Eri and almost burst into tears. She was _smiling_. The blond boy quickly alerted the other two by nudging them.

The three couldn't help but to smile at the girl; she was just so _adorable_. They concluded then and there that this girl must be protected no matter the cost.

———————— **Time Skip** ————————

Aizawa stared at the paperwork, frustrated. He looked up at the small creature that was seated across from him.

"It is rather frustrating, isn't it? It's been a month since the rescue and two weeks since the Hosu incident, yet no leads on where the league is located. Perhaps we can lighten the mood; maybe a camping trip? Final exams are over so maybe it would be a good idea for both you and the students," Nezu explained happily. His beady eyes examined Aizawa's face for a reaction.

The black haired male sighed as he tossed the files back onto the desk in front of him. He looked up to the critter then back down to the papers. "Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea," he grunted as he looked off to the side.

"Alright! Tell your class about it today; the trip will be four days from now so they have time to pack!"

Aizawa internally grimaced at the principal's jovial attitude, but he still agreed.

He stood up and stepped out of the office, grabbing his yellow sleeping bag with him. He headed towards his classroom, but not before checking on Eri, who was in the teacher's lounge getting her hair braided by Midnight. Aizawa gave a small wave to her before heading to the classroom.

He opened the door, and soon heard the twenty kids go quiet. _If only they would stay like this for forever_ , Aizawa thought as he walked to the front of the classroom, sleeping bag still at hand. He stared at the class with a bored expression on his face, looking down to stack up the papers sitting on the podium.

The class was quiet, curious about the papers in their teacher's hand. Aizawa shuffled through them, placing five pieces of paper in each row to pass them down. He went back to the podium without a word until he spoke up, "With everything that's been going on, we decided it was a good idea to train in a different environment. These are permission slips to a training camp that we will be going to on Friday. Make sure you have everything you need ready and packed by then. Any questions?"

The dual haired boy sitting in the back slowly raised his hand, so Aizawa gestured for him to speak. "Do you have anymore information on Deku?"

The class was told about the green haired male after the events in Hosu; the staff and pro-heroes, who all knew about Deku, decided to tell the hero classes about it. Todoroki and Iida–with Iida doing most of the talking–had told their classmates about the green haired male and how he fought the hero killer. They, however, didn't mention that they participated in the fight; the story was half true since the supposed 'villain' had done most of the fighting. They had said the guy had escaped before Endeavor swooped in and finished up the job.

Most of the class was eagerly waiting for a response while others just didn't care. Aizawa glanced down at the papers before looking up and sighing, "No, we do not." The rest of the class actually had different opinions about the greenette; some wanted to save him while others wanted him to rot in jail. They weren't told about the male's association with the Yakuza, Overhaul, or his connection to Eri. Well, except Iida and Todoroki, but they didn't comment on it.

Todoroki clenched his fist at the statement. He really wanted to be the one to help rescue the male; the greenette whispered something to him before escaping that day. " _It's your power, not his."_

It made Todoroki think. It made him realize so many things that were right in front of him, yet he couldn't see it. He was blinded by his overwhelming hate for his _father_ that he couldn't see something that was there the whole time. And to think that only a couple words from a complete stranger could turn his life around. But what did Deku mean when he said that he 'shouldn't be here?' with 'here' referring to the alley that they had fought the hero killer in. Was he in danger because of it? Wasn't he with the league of villains right now? If so, why would he save heroes of all people or save anyone at all? The green haired male was like a complex puzzle, but hopefully, Todoroki thought, that puzzle could be solved soon.

* * *

It was now Friday, the day of the trip. Iida had been in higher spirits after the Hosu incident with the hero killer; he was inspired by Deku, reminded of what it means to be a hero.

He chopped the air as he yelled for the students to enter the bus in an orderly fashion. Some students grumbled and complained, not wanting to hear the energetic teen babble on about different things at such an early hour. Soon after, Aizawa had entered the bus with Eri, in which some girls awed at how cute she looked in her outfit.

Everything about the training camp was going fine, if you didn't count the grueling training. Eri had tried making friends with Kota, but he was a little too stubborn and turned down her request. She was sad at first; the girls were quick to cheer her back up, wanting to keep the smile on her face.

Kota couldn't help but hate everything about heroes. Not after what happened to his parents. He liked to be alone and so he went to his secret hiding place, a cliff where he could observe the night sky and be alone with his thoughts. The boy looked up at the stars, seemingly mesmerized by their appearance; he tried to spot different shapes in the sky. He was interrupted when he heard a voice, "Well well well what do we have here? You're obviously not that UA brat that I was supposed to get, but I guess I can let lose and have a little fun, right?"

Kota froze as he turned around shakily. There was a blond man there with a look of bloodlust in his singular eye. The boy immediately recognized the man, just looking at him hit him with a truck of emotions that he shouldn't be dealing with–not for someone his age. The blond man stalked towards him with a sinister smirk on his face.

"I guess you're gonna see what happens in the afterlife, kid," the blond said as red and pink tissue started to form around him.

**"Not on my watch."**


	6. Unexpected Enemy

The blond turned around, shocked by the other voice from behind him. He noticed the green haired brat(as he called him) running towards him. The blond let out a loud excited laugh, "Oh ho ho! _You_ weren't supposed to be here! Shigaraki made that clear, but obviously you have to be a rebellious little brat, don't you? I'm surprised he hasn't killed you yet..." The greenette launched himself towards the man but barely made him move an inch when he did land a punch.

It irritated Deku, but he still kept his same blank face as he tried again. Muscular, the villain–or the _real_ villain–, had smirked upon seeing the weak attempt to beat him. "...But I guess you do have some brains, right? Maybe not right now since you think you can beat me and save this kid. You know, I think I'll kill you for Shigaraki; you've been getting on my nerves lately."

Deku glared at the guy before speaking up, "Kid. Stand back and let me handle this. I don't want you running anywhere. There are more villains around here and I don't want you getting hurt." Kota couldn't move; he was frozen. At that moment, the greenette was tossed like a doll into the wall of rocks. When he stood back up, he had blood dripping down his head. He noticed the man went over to the kid that he wanted–No. Was _going_ to save. The freckled boy stood up shakily. He glanced at his wrist and scowled, _It's fine, I'm sure I can do this without a quirk. I'm not weak anymore. Not like when I was with him._ He fiddled with the quirk nullifiers before glancing upwards, seeing Muscular about to pick up the boy. To _hurt_ him. Deku couldn't allow anymore kids to get hurt, not after Eri.

He sprinted towards the two, and before Muscular could reach the boy, Deku had put all of his force into hitting the blond's legs so he would fall. Thankfully for the greenette, he was successful in doing so, but it came at a cost. _At least that boy is safe._ Deku heard the boy yelling and screaming hysterically as the greenette and the blond plunged down the cliff.

Both passed out on impact from the ground, but there was an unpleasant crack when Deku had fallen–a little later then Muscular because of the weight difference. Kota rushed down as his heart dropped. Someone that he could finally call his hero, dead? No not here, not now.

He took a minute or two just to get down to their level. His eyes were filled to the brim with tears when he noticed both were not moving. He was slightly relieved when he noticed the greenette was still breathing–well Muscular was still breathing but Kota could care less. Hot tears fell down his face as he kneeled down beside the freckled teen. He noticed the beaten right arm so he went to the left side, hugging it tightly as he sobbed.

It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that he heard shuffling near him. Kota froze up and glanced behind him, terrified that the blond had woken up again. He was puzzled when he noticed that the man was still passed out. "I promise he can't hurt you now," a voice said behind him. The boy turned back to the greenette to see that he was awake again. Once the freckled teen had sat up, Kota immediately hugged him as tears stained his face.

Deku was slightly startled by the action but spoke up, "Come on, I still have more work to do." The greenette wobbled as he stood up. He looked towards the boy, "I know I'm not the best person to be trusting right now, but I need you to hop on my back so I can get you back to the heroes."

Kota hesitated, "Y-You're not a hero?"

The greenette sighed. "I don't like the villains but I have to stay with them to keep someone I know safe. I won't hurt you," he said in a low voice, trying not to sound scary. The greenette was surprised when the boy agreed. Kota hopped on and wrapped his legs around the freckled boy's hips while his arms were draped over his shoulders.

Deku felt an overwhelming amount of pain in both his arm and his left thigh; he still wasn't healed from when Shigaraki had stabbed him through the leg.

As of now, Shigaraki didn't trust Deku. The greenette came up with a lie when he had noticed that stain attracted more members to the league.

_"Well I know you hated the guy so I took him down for you myself. As for the UA students, I didn't want to injure them. I wasn't sure which one we were supposed to be retrieving on the next mission, so I decided to play it safe. Plus, it's gonna be good when we do get them; they'll have someone to trust, which will make convincing them to join easier," the greenette explained as he looked up at the crimson eyed male who was about to stab him again._

_Shigaraki had thought about it for a moment before deciding to release the boy. Deku rubbed his ankles and arms in the spots where they were bound by the rough rope. The blue haired male made a threat as he cut the last rope, "If you decide to pull something like that again, you bet your ass that you'll be turned to ashes."_

Deku still ran as fast as he could though; it's not like he hasn't done something like this before, anyways. He ran to where he knew the others were; he was the one who planned the attack so he knows who does what, where at, and the motive for the attack. The motive was attacking a certain Katsuki Bakugo.

The greenette ran until he found an opening in the forest, where there were a bunch of heroes and villains fighting each other at once. There was Magne and Spinner on the villain's side and the Wild, Wild Pussycats on the hero's side. Deku noticed Magne holding a heavy iron rod to Pixie-Bob's head. The freckled boy growled as he set Kota down for a brief second; near a pro hero of course. He ran up and kicked the red haired female's face as she let go of the heavy rod. Deku used the girl as something to propel off of as he turned and tackled the rod so it didn't fall and crush the hero. He landed roughly as his head hit the iron rod a couple of feet away from the blonde hero.

"What are you doing here? You- You're a traitor?"

Deku turned to see the source of the voice, only to see Spinner. The greenette's face hardened as he looked at the male. The freckled teen stood up and spoke, "I don't care about your ideals and the league's motives; I never did. I think they're wrong and just plain stupid. I'll give you my thoughts on the matter," he stepped closer to the man, who's quirk was pretty much useless in this situation, "Heroes may have messed up ideas and motivations for why they are a hero, but villains are the same in a sense. These messed up ideals and motives are what messes up society, not fixes it." He sucker punched the gecko man in the face, sending him tumbling back.

The greenette hissed as he held his swollen right arm. He noticed other people move forwards; it was Tiger and Mandalay. The redheaded female began to speak, "We'll handle it from here."

The freckled teen paused before looking to Mandalay. "Pro hero Mandalay, quirk: Telepathy, correct? I need you to send a message to all of the heroes; I have information," the greenette stated. Deku looked over and grabbed Kota once again, determined to bring him to safety. She wore a conflicted look on her face as she fought the villain. What caught her eye was Kota on the teen's back; that's when she knew the greenette was trust worthy. She gave the go-ahead for the teen to continue speaking. "The league is here to kidnap one of the students, Katsuki Bakugo."

With that, he ran off to find someone who would definitely know where a safe spot was located; that person was pro hero Eraserhead. As he ran through the forest, he noted that the gas that belonged to Mustard, a villain, was now gone. _These UA students are really something, huh?_ He turned his attention to a grey material that he spotted in the corner of his eye. It seemed as though the greenette was spotted as well; the grey material had stopped moving.

Eraserhead turned and locked eyes with the greenette. _It's really him, the Deku guy that Eri is so fond of._ The black haired male cautiously approached the freckled male but soon noticed the boy on his back. Deku spoke before the hero could, "Take him to safety. I'm here to help, I promise you. Shigaraki doesn't know I'm here, but I had to be here. The league is planning to take one of your students so I'll do all I can to prevent that." The greenette gave the boy to the black haired male, who was still in shock. He turned to where he believed another fight to be until he muttered something, "Even if it kills me..."

* * *

The broadcast was sent to all of the students.

"Dammit!" The angry teen had exclaimed as he jumped back. He balanced himself again before attempting to attack again; he was stopped by a wall of ice, and, at that moment, something stabbed through the ice in the opposite side.

"Stop being so impatient. You're gonna get yourself killed if all you do is try to attack constantly," a dual haired teen stated as he summoned more ice as he stomped his right foot onto the ground. He heard a yell from being them and looked to see who it was. There was Shouji with Tokoyami and Dark Shadow behind him, and in front of Shouji was... _Deku_ , Todoroki thought as he observed the two running towards them.

"Todoroki! Bakugo! Use your quirk to stop Dark Shadow!" The greenette had exclaimed as he ran towards them. Bakugo gave a questionable glance but the dual haired teen had already started to make a small flame. He had full confidence in the freckled teen. Though, it was a wonder of how he knew everyone's names and quirks. Bakugo, however, grabbed the dual haired teen's wrist, stopping the fire.

"Cool it candy cane, just wait and watch," the ash blond stated. The dual haired teen reluctantly complied. At that moment, the others had caught up and Dark Shadow let loose on the villain, Moonfish. Deku took note that the quirk was much stronger in the nighttime. _So that's why he struggled at the Sports Festival_. After the villain was knocked out, both boys were quick to calm Dark Shadow with their quirks.

Tokoyami exhaled shakily, "I'm sorry I let Dark Shadow out of control like that. I almost hurt you guys." Shouji went to comfort the boy while Deku stood there by himself trying to come up with a plan as he stared out into the forest filled with blue flames. He turned around upon hearing a voice,

"And who the fuck are you?"


	7. Safe...?

The dirt made small noises under the ash blond's feet as he approached the emerald eyed boy with curiosity and anticipation.

The blond stood in front of the greenette. He had never met him, but he seemed so familiar. His eyes trailed up and down the freckled boy, trying to find an answer that he knew was in the back of his mind, yet he couldn't find an answer.

The emerald eyed boy seemed to be looking for an answer himself, but decided not to speak.

"You already seem to know my name, so what is your name?"

The greenette's eyes flickered from person to person, his blank face still evident; he finally met the crimson red eyes that were watching him suspiciously. "We don't have time to play guessing games. Right now our top priority is to get you and the others to safety. More so you since you are the league's top target," Deku responded as he turned around towards the rest of the wooded area. He began to think, _Toga is looking for more people to get blood from, right? So all I need to do is scan the forest for her or find out the other students in the forest-_

His thoughts were interrupted by a small explosion to the back along with a harsh kick, causing him to fall down. He felt the weight of someone pinning him down; they were digging his face into the dirt. "Don't try to pull that shit on me. I know you're with the villains. Just how dumb could you be to think that we would trust you for a second?" Bakugo growled as he started to form more sparks in his palm.

"I talked with Eraserhead. He seemed to trust me in keeping you UA students safe. I may be associated with the league but that doesn't mean I have their ludicrous beliefs," the greenette gritted out, feeling the blond's knee digging into his injured thigh. That wasn't entirely true; he had done all the talking with the pro hero but he needed to get these students to trust him so he could help. He huffed as sweat rolled down his face mixed with the blood that was already gushing down it. He felt the weight get lifted off of him and afterwards there was yelling and arguing.

Midoriya struggled to stand up as his legs wobbled. He looked up to see the dual haired teen and the ash blond arguing. He staggered up to the two and pushed them away from each other lightly, he hissed as Bakugo grabbed his right arm to get his hand off his chest.

The other heroes in training paused when hearing the greenette hiss in pain. Todoroki hesitated, "Are you okay?" Deku brought his left hand down and off of the dual haired teen's chest. He carefully rolled up the long sleeve he was wearing as he walked towards where Toga might be. He started sprinting after he had checked it and rolled his sleeve back down; the others began to run with him, trailing behind. As they ran he muttered a simple, "Just a broken bone or two. I can manage."

 _This crazy bastard_ , Bakugo thought as he followed the greenette with the others. Todoroki decided to speak, wanting ask the questions he's been itching to ask. "Deku...right?" Todoroki asked hesitantly. The greenette just gave a glance over his shoulder before continuing forwards. The dual haired teen looked puzzled, not knowing if he should continue to speak or not. He wasn't sure exactly how he should phrase the question either, especially with his classmates around. He continued anyways, "During...your fight with the hero killer, Stain pointed out that you were trying to get me to use my quirk but you weren't using yours-"

Deku interrupted him, "If you're thinking it was because it was too dangerous to use in an alleyway, you're mistaken. I technically don't have a quirk at the moment." The greenette's face hardened as he glanced down at the bracelets around his wrists.

Shouji spoke up, "What do you mean by technically-" He noticed the greenette had stopped. The others had stopped as well and looked to see what the teen with the emerald eyes was staring at. They glanced over and found a villain with blonde hair in two messy buns. She was being pinned down their classmate, Uraraka, while Asui was dangling on the side of a tree.

"Stay here," Deku muttered as he stood up and emerged from the bushes. He noticed that Toga had pulled out her needle for her blood sucking machine and was about to stab it into the girl's leg. "Toga," he spoke up sternly as he walked up to the two.

The blonde stopped when she heard the familiar voice. "What are you doing here?" She asked, though her voice was a bit muffled from being pushed onto the ground. "Tomura is gonna kill you when he finds out, you know."

"I know," The greenette paused as he gestured Uraraka to get off of Toga. The brunette gave him a glare while Toga couldn't see much. Deku had gestured behind him and to the bushes where her other classmates were. Tokoyami, Shouji, and Todoroki gave her a thumbs up in reassurance. She was still hesitant so she did the next best thing. She tapped the blonde while activating her quirk and got off as she floated up to where she couldn't reach anything.

Toga turned around to see the greenette with blood gushing out. "Oooh~! You know Deku I think you look better this way. Do I get to watch you fight for the first time since we got you?"

Deku glared at her in return. "Like I said. I know Shigaraki is gonna kill me when we get back, so I might as well do what I want while I can. And what I want to do is save these heroes. The more heroes there are, the less villains there are. I'm...sorry. I know you, Dabi, and Twice treated me well, but...I never wanted to be a villain. I never got a choice in the matter. And before I go, I want to make sure people know that," he breathed out.

Then, without warning, a knife was thrown at Uraraka. The brunette slipped up and released the blonde girl due to the shock. Deku was quick to step in front of her and act as a shield, though he was hit in his left leg. "Then I guess Tomura _was_ right for doing that stuff to you. Guess both of your legs are injured now, too bad~. Maybe I can be the one to help kill you. It would be so much fun to see the blood spill from your lifeless corpse~," she laughed when she noticed Deku started to stagger. The greenette stood still for a moment as he glared at the blonde, staring her straight in the eyes. He lifted his left leg up to him as he kept eye contact. He grabbed the knife and yanked it out. His breathing was a bit uneven, but he didn't feel any pain. Why was getting injured out on the battlefield not painful for him? _Maybe it's adrenaline?_ He thought to himself.

"Come out," he spoke to the four boys crouching behind the bushes. They obeyed and the greenette turned towards Toga, expecting her to run away. And she did.

Uraraka knew that the others would have her back if this villain did decide to attack. She ran over to Asui and pulled the knife out of the tree to release her. Deku glanced around the forest again. He slipped away while the others were distracted.

Or so he thought.

He felt someone's presence behind him and then everything went dark.

———————— **Time Skip** ————————-

A blinding light hit the greenette's emerald eyes as he slowly regained consciousness. _Why did it take me so long to get back up? I should still be in the forest! Unless..._ he glanced around him until he spotted the ash blond boy.

Deku cursed at himself for stepping away from the group of students he was supposed to be protecting. His memories slowly started to come back, though, not all of them. He remembered a familiar presence before he blacked out... _Mr. Compress_ , he remembered.

The greenette noted the rope wrapped around him tightly. He gritted his teeth as the material went up against his unattended injuries. He had dried blood all over his clothes, on his face, and in his hair. He noticed that Bakugo was tied up as well, but not as harshly. _Why exactly did they put me in the same room as him? Are they just too lazy?_ Deku thought as he slumped down a little. _I guess it doesn't matter since it'll be over soon. I wonder why I haven't bled out yet._

"So you didn't even bother to say hi to us when you woke up?"

Deku knew that voice; it was Shigaraki. The greenette looked up to see the blue haired male giving him a crooked smile. The freckled teen didn't answer and just looked off to the side. The villain's hand went up to the bracelet on the boy's wrist. He tugged at the one on Deku's right arm, making the already swollen and bruised arm even worse. The freckled boy gritted his teeth as he looked at the blue haired male with a burning hatred.

"What a shame, huh? Maybe I would've kept you alive if you could use your quirk...if it was useful. But we can't have traitors like you running around all willy nilly, hm?"

Pieces of the greenette's left arm started to chip away as Shigaraki placed his hand on it. "So...why haven't you killed me yet then?" The freckled teen growled lowly as his arm started bleeding. The blue haired male stopped as he looked to see the ash blond stirring awake.

"Because if you got on his good side then making him join us will be easier. He'll think there will be someone he can trust here. But once he joins, we'll be sure to kill you. If he doesn't join, then, well, we'll kill you anyways!" Shigaraki laughed as he stepped away and approached Bakugo.

They tried to convince him, but it was no use. That is, until Shigaraki made the ash blond face the person who was at risk of dying if he did not agree to joining. The ash blond's crimson eyes widened for a second before going back to normal. Deku's emerald green eyes started back at him, "Don't join. They're just gonna kill me anyways-"

A knife through his leg was what interrupted him. He screamed loudly in agony; he couldn't take it anymore, the pain coursing through his body was unbearable. Not even his ' _father_ ' or the villains back with Overhaul never treated him this cruelly.

Black dots filled his vision as he felt dizzy. _Finally, I lost enough blood...I hope._ Before he slipped off into the darkness, he heard a loud bang and yelling. There was the infamous clash of red, yellow, white, and blue colors that only appeared as a blur to Deku;though, he couldn't mistake the large blur as any one other than All Might himself. _Oh...the heroes? I hope that Bakugo kid will be safe..._


	8. Finally

Yelling and screaming was all he heard.

How familiar.

He felt his feet being dragged on the floor and a familiar warm presence from behind him. He bobbed his head up to see a familiar ash blond color. Deku moved his left arm as best as he could. If he could move, then he could save people.

He pushed against the dirt and against the male supporting him up. "Stop it, Deku. You're just gonna-"

"I have to get you back. It's my fault you're here in the first place..." Deku paused before speaking again, "Your friends are here..." The greenette looked around to see Spinner, Twice, Magne, Shigaraki, Mr. Compress, and Toga. He stood up as best as he could and held his fists up while getting ready to fight. He noticed a huge bang from where he sensed the rest of the UA students were; a certain redhead was holding his hand out to Bakugo. The ash blond seemed hesitant but blasted himself up and towards the rest of the students.

Deku faced the others to see that Kurogiri and Dabi were no where to be seen. _All for One probably sent them through Kurogiri's warp gate_. He looked to see the purple mist behind the villains. The greenette took note of his beat up body but still pushed to fight anyways. Shigaraki was too distracted by the battle, along with Mr. Compress. _Well that's good_. He only had Twice, Magne, Spinner, and Toga to deal with then. Well, technically only three since Spinner's quirk wasn't useful in open fields.

Mr. Compress noted that Bakugo was on his way to escape, so he quickly ordered Magne to send him up with her quirk. A large object...or person got in the way; Deku took note that it was Mt. Lady who interfered. Magne tried again, but with twice. Then, there was something that flew through the air. Deku looked to see Magne, Spinner, and Twice all unconscious and on the floor. Confused, Deku looked around as his gaze landed on a short man with grey hair. He was wearing a costume that was yellow and white, with a small black mask covering his face.

"I guess I gotta get rid of you before the heroes can come get you, hm?"

_Toga_ , Deku glanced towards her direction. Though, he noticed Mt. Lady starting to fall down, most likely from being hit in the head from stopping Mr. Compress. She was falling to where he was at, making Toga dart away. He got as low as possible since he couldn't runaway; he felt something go over him, but he was never crushed. The thing was lifted lightly as his emerald eyes looked over to see purple eyes staring back at him, she had a smile on her face. "It's fine, we're going to make sure you're safe too, Deku," she spoke as blood gushed from her forehead. The greenette warily looked at her as he nodded his head; his eyes started to flutter as black dots filled his vision. _Jeez I'm such a weakling, aren't I? This is the...third time? I've...passed.....out........_

* * *

_Beep...Beep...Beep...._

Eri didn't like the hospital.

It reminded her of Overhaul in a way, but she knew she had to be here. Deku was finally safe. She glanced up at the greenette for a second until she laid her head back down on his stomach.

That's all she really did when he was able to visit him; she went up to the bed, maneuvered over the machines, got on the bed, and curled up at his side like she used to do. She made sure not to touch either of his arms; they were still injured. Though, she would always have to leave when either the doctors came in, or Deku started moving his arms and legs a lot. It was weird seeing him do that when he wasn't even awake, but she complied to get out of the room; she always noticed how the doctors and nurses rushed into the room after that. She concluded that what was happening to him probably wasn't good then.

She noticed that one time he wasn't in the room and the doctor whispered something to Aizawa, something about a 'surgery'. Whatever that was. She noticed that when he came back, his arm had a weird thing wrapped around it. She didn't comment on it though.

His body was currently wrapped in bandages. "When is he gonna wake up?" Eri asked as she looked at the black haired male, still clutching her mint green blanket that she always kept with her.

Aizawa sighed as he felt the girl squeeze his hand. "I-" He was interrupted when the door opened, revealing three members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats and Kota. They glanced around the room until Mandalay noticed Aizawa and Eri standing next to the bed.

"Oh, I apologize! We didn't know that-"

"It's fine," Aizawa interrupted as he gave her a small nod before his eyes flickered back to the greenette. He motioned the adults to the outside of the room; Tiger stayed with the kids to make sure nothing happened. The black haired male looked back and forth between Pixie-Bob and Mandalay. He exhaled as he explained the situation, "He was in serious condition when we got a hold of him. He had a couple of broken bones and stab wounds, not to mention other injuries. And to think he was still fighting like that...

He seemed to be a bit malnourished. The league probably provided him the minimum amount of food, just enough to keep him alive. He has a bunch of medical stuff attached to him so we still have to be aware of that. Recovery Girl can't use her quirk because he's still unconscious. We gave him pain meds and we were able to remove those quirk cancelling cuffs. We do have a drug being injected into him to stop his quirk temporarily, incase I'm not around when he wakes up.

We still don't know his true motives for doing what he did, so we still have to be cautious around him. He's still not reliable so after he's released, he'll be staying at UA along with Eri. When he's fully recovered, we have to interrogate him."

The other two nodded as they took the information in. The blonde lady, Pixie-Bob, had spoken up, "We wanted to make sure he was fine though. He still looks fairly young. Kota wanted to see him and thank him for saving him at the camp. Guess he can just leave the note here and go like he wanted to in the first place."

* * *

The students of class 1-A were talking up a storm; they've been this way ever since the Kamino incident. The students were scattered all around the room, in their little friend groups. They expected Aizawa to be late; he's been late ever since Eri was rescued. The two walked in, though the class noticed that Eri has been more smiley recently; was it because of Deku?

"I can't believe All Might had to retire!" Uraraka exclaimed with a bit of disappointment. The comment made two students in particular flinch: Todoroki and Bakugo. The brunette was about to babble on until Jiro mentioned the two pairs of footsteps approaching their classroom. The class was quick to get back to their seats. When they were finished, Aizawa opened the door, revealing Eri and himself.

The black haired male went to the podium with his yellow sleeping bag still at hand; Eri sat against the wall near the corner. She liked that spot in the classroom, she would always doze off with the mint green blanket wrapped around her. She wouldn't really pay attention to anything in class, but Aizawa caught her attention.

"As you may know, along with getting Bakugo back from the villains, we managed to get the green haired male named Deku. When he returns, he will stay here at UA in order for us to keep an eye on him..."

Meanwhile, Nezu stood on the other side of the doorway with a hesitant looking male. The white haired critter looked up with a wide smile, "Just open the door and you can see Eri." The greenette glanced back at the door before he pushed the door with his left arm.

His eyes darted around the room, seeing mostly shocked expressions from the students. Before he could observe the rest of the room, he felt something wrap around his legs. He glanced down to see familiar bluish, off-white haired girl by him. He crouched down near the girl as she let go. He was still injured, but he needed to be eye level with the girl. He was about to say something when the girls small arms went around his shoulders and she buried her head into the crook of his neck. "Hi Eri..." he mumbled as his mouth twitched; he didn't understand why it did but quickly returned to his blank expression. Though, he was perplexed by the weird gesture Eri had made.

He felt tears fall onto his new outfit. "Eri what's wrong?" He asked as his eyebrows furrowed. He tried to look her in the eyes to ask her again.

She lifted her head up and smiled, "Deku's back!"

The greenette felt something churn in his stomach. It was like that bad feeling he always felt when his 'father' told him he didn't do good enough. It was that same emptiness in his stomach that he felt when Eri told him he was the reason for making her cry. "You're crying because I'm here? I can leave then..." The greenette tried to pull away but Eri held on tighter.

"No! Crying doesn't have to be bad! It's because I'm happy! See?" She smiled as she tried to wipe her floor of tears. Deku frowned.

"I...wait...happy?" He asked, confused by the weird word that came out of the girl's mouth. The class's hearts shattered upon hearing how genuinely confused the greenette sounded. Just how messed up was he? He didn't even know what happinesses was!

Eri brushed it off as she stepped back and tugged on the greenette's left hand since his right one was in a cast. The class watched as he stood up and followed the girl to the little corner. He sat down and she asked him to sit next to her. He agreed and she immediately put the blanket over both of them. Deku didn't say anything when Eri curled up next to him; he just closed his eyes when she did.

* * *

The class when on with the two sleeping in the corner, until Deku jolted awake. His head snapped towards the door as his face hardened. He placed Eri on the floor and the class immediately noticed the great amount of hostility towards...the door?

It was a surprise when the door had opened, revealing one of the teachers/pro heroes. Once the white haired teacher laid eyes on the greenette, his face paled. Deku charged and tackled the teacher, making Aizawa yell at the students to step back. The black haired teacher went to restrain Deku, but the greenette moved out of the way.

He looked towards Aizawa with blood running down his nose; the hero had punched him. Deku bared his teeth as he growled and motioned towards the white haired male still laying on the ground, "Who is he?"

Aizawa looked between the two, "His-"

"Not his name. What's his affiliation with UA?" The greenette seethed with anger as he clenched his fists.

"He's a teacher."

Deku charged at the white haired male; his suspicions were correct. He pounced on the male, receiving several hits but he wasn't backing down.

The greenette took a glance towards Aizawa, "You have a traitor on your hands."


	9. Unanswered Questions

Aizawa was conflicted.

He wasn't sure if he should trust the greenette or his colleague. He glanced between the two, who looked ready to battle each other. The black haired male activated his quirk as he looked at his fellow teacher, "Don't do anything,"

Aizawa decided that he wouldn't trust either of them for now.

He ordered Iida to go get the teachers while he had the other two wrapped up in his capture gear. The blue haired teen complied as he ran in the direction of the teachers' lounge. The tired teacher deactivated his quirk since the white haired male and the greenette were both wrapped up in the capture gear, unable to move. After a couple of minutes, the teachers who weren't on break had arrived, along with Principal Nezu.

The white haired male tried to force his way out of the capture gear while Deku just sat and glared at the man, trying to come up with a plan to get out and beat him to a pulp. The greenette heard several footsteps before they stopped and one pair of footsteps continued on from behind him. He didn't remember much other than a strange smell and purple mist filling the air.

* * *

Deku expected to wake up in a prison cell after what he had done.

He stared up at the white ceiling before sitting up with slight pain...well, everywhere. He looked over to see a couple of people talking. Apparently the white haired creature, which Deku already knew as Nezu, had noticed him and started walking over.

He hopped onto the chair closest to the bed and looked at the greenette while smiling. Nezu started to speak, "Thank you for helping us."

Deku stared for a second, he paused before speaking, "I know we aren't on the best of terms, but may I know why I am being shown gratitude for attacking one of your teachers?" The greenette understood that the heroes would probably trust _that man_ more than himself, which is why it was quite foolish of him to just attack and accuse him as a traitor. Well, it wasn't an accusation on Deku's part; he knew perfectly well that his _father_ was working with the league. It's how they obtained their information, after all.

"After some digging, we were able to confirm that you were correct with your statement," Nezu replied. The critter didn't want to get into the details. After the accusation that Deku had made, the staff looked into doing an interrogation while the greenette was knocked out–he was the only one out of the two who were knocked out. The teacher, now former teacher, was interrogated and admitted to being affiliated with the league. Additionally, he described his connection with Deku, though it wasn't very detailed.

When they had asked for simple information like Deku's real name, birthday, quirk(or if he had one), or age, the awful man refused to provide the information.

Nezu observed the greenette in front of him, taking in the scars and injuries that littered his body. He felt apologetic towards Deku; the male had been through so much, and, based off of his so-called _father's_ age, the greenette could be around the age of to around ten to twenty six. They weren't exactly sure about the last part; the greenette didn't look that old. He still looked fairly young. The principal cleared his throat before speaking, "Would you be willing to talk to him? Perhaps you have some questions you want answered?" Deku's dull emerald eyes had a small flicker in them before he nodded his head yes.

* * *

There were sitting across from each other in the room all alone. Dull emerald eyes met black eyes as the two looked at each other. Aizawa stayed on guard in case something were to happen.

The white haired male tapped his hand on the table, the clattering of chains was heard as well. It took a moment for Deku to speak up as he stared at the brown table separating them, "Where...where is my mother?"

The man's eyebrows knitted together before a small smirk formed on his face. Soon after, he was a laughing mess; making the greenette confused–he didn't know what laughter was, but it didn't sound good. He subconsciously scooted back in his chair, the memories of what this man had done to him still engraved into his brain. He put his hand over his right arm, where the scar this man gave him all these years ago was located. The same voice ran through his head, remembering what he had said to him, _"You pathetic excuse for a child. You really thought that attack was going to work? Let's hope that gash on your arm will become a scar so you'll have a reminder: you're weak. And the only thing to make weak people stronger is practice. Practice won't do much if you're not giving your all."_

Deku shuttered under his breath. The laughs of the man filled the room until he spoke, "That's hilarious! Guess I never told you, huh? Long story short: your parents didn't want you."

The greenette couldn't find his voice; he felt as if his throat was being shut, he managed to choke out, "But fath-"

He was kicked in the leg.

Deku winced, the spot targeted was where the stab wound was. "Don't. Call. Me. That. Do you really think I made a worthless piece of shit like you? I found you in an alleyway while I was on patrol, so I took you in. Worst decision of my life. Since I didn't want you, I put you up for sale on the black market. The league wanted you after describing some of the combat training you were given, but the Yakuza offered a much higher bid. Guess the league managed to get their hands on you anyways though."

The white haired male, also known as the pro hero Metallic–he's able to manipulate metal objects– began to laugh upon seeing the freckled teen's face. You couldn't see it on his face, but in his dull green eyes held an overwhelming amount of sadness. Deku was frozen, he couldn't move from the spot he was at, so when it came time for him to leave, he had to be ushered away. _My own flesh and blood didn't even want me? What was I doing in an alleyway? Did they just leave me there to rot?_

He was back in, what he learned, Recovery Girl's office. He sat up on the bed as he stared off into space. The freckled teen looked down at his lap where he had set his hands, as best as he could at the moment; his right arm was in a huge white cast while the other was wrapped up in bandages that went from the top of his arm down to his wrist. He brought his left hand up and activated his quirk, surprised when it actually did work. A familiar glow appeared from his hand before he forced it to go away. _Weak? But I've worked so hard...I saved people. What does that...villain know?_

Deku was actually fairly...relieved. He was mistaken for a villain way to often, and if he was related to one, then that would destroy his chances of becoming a hero like he always aimed to be. He believed that _man_ was a hero almost his whole life; Deku wanted to earn his right to be Hisoka Shinohara's son, to earn the family name Shinohara. Now he knows that it was probably a good idea that he never 'earned' that right; the name left a sour taste in his mouth. But... if Hisoka wasn't his father...then who was? Where were his actual parents? Were they dead?

It appears that Deku had been thinking way longer than he should have. He ended up staring at the same place, almost unblinking, for the rest of the time school was happening.

Since Aizawa was needed for the interview, All Might had decided to take his place; the blond was pretty much recovered from the Kamino incident. Besides, he wanted to observe the students more, to look for his successor in which he hadn't found yet. Now, he may be retired, so that means that the embers of One for All left in him means that it's gone forever, right? Not necessarily. All Might knew it would be a huge risk if he participated in the rescue of Bakugo, so he had sealed up a piece of hair in which he transferred One for All through. All he needed to do was retrieve the bag and hand the piece of hair to his successor.

He already had a few candidates, one of them being Mirio Togata. He, however, was now out of the running for candidates. It would be odd if the now confirmed quirkless third year would suddenly manifest such a quirk. It was nearly impossible; the kid was nearly an adult. So All Might turned to the first years. There was Bakugo, who had good grades and was good with strategies on the battlefield. But with a reckless personality along with such a destructive quirk of his own? Yeah, One for All was not going to go well with him. There was Kirishima; he had a good heart and not to mention he had excellent drive when it came to hero work. School, on the other hand was a different story.

All Might went through every student and found nothing. Some had quirks too powerful without One for All, some didn't have much experience with combat or analyzing situations, some would have to do a lot of training in order to be prepared, and some..just didn't have the personality or the right motivation. So he moved onto class 1-B. Same thing happened there.

Though, he did hear rumors about this 'monster' of a person that was saved, supposedly, in the Kamino incident. He heard that the male had semi-long curly green hair, freckles, and emerald green eyes. The blond wanted to meet with this person named 'Deku', but he would have to wait. All Might, or Toshinori Yagi, was brought out of his thoughts as Aizawa walked back into the classroom. The blue eyed blond noticed Eri stood up right away, looking towards the door with a worrisome look.

She started tearing up when she noticed a certain green haired male wasn't there. She looked up to Aizawa as he sighed and walked over to her. He crouched down and ruffled her hair, "It's fine. He's not going away. He just needs to rest, okay? We can go see him afterwards." She wiped her tears and smiled softly, nodding her head in response.

All Might had left and Aizawa started teaching again, after he was done, he left with Eri to the teachers lounge since Present Mic stepped in to teach English.

The two walked down the hallway and to the teachers lounge. Eri tugged on the fabric of Aizawa's clothes expectantly. The male looked down and sighed, remembering the promise he had made, "Right. I have to talk to some of the teachers before that so I can make sure it's..safe to go in there." The girl nodded her head and they continued towards the teachers lounge.

As soon as they had entered, Eri was scooped up, "Ah! Eri I haven't seen you in a while! How's my little munchkin?"

The girl giggled, "It's only been a day!" She glanced over to the lady that had picked her up and was met with blue eyes. Midnight was her name, that's what Eri had learned anyways, and she was very caring and nice towards Eri. She always brought Eri presents and brushed her hair. Speaking of which, the hero had pulled out a brush and a couple of hair ties, asking Eri if she could style her hair since they had the time. The crimson eyed girl agreed as she smiled with glee.

Aizawa made his way into Nezu's office, which was connected to the teachers lounge. He was met with the bear-rat-dog-mouse-thing shifting through various papers that were scattered across his desk. Nezu looked up to see Aizawa approaching him. The tired man glanced over the papers to see various missing children reports from throughout the years. Many contained some of the traits that Deku had. The black haired male raised an eyebrow at the sight and looked up to his colleague. Nezu spoke,

"We can't seem to find anything about him."


	10. New Discoveries

Aizawa stepped closer and picked up the file labeled 'Deku' only to find it only had one small paper in it. Even then, there wasn't much information on it other than a description of what he looked like. It also had some...details about his past with Shinohara. It explained Deku's daily training regimen and some past injuries, but nothing about a quirk, birthday, or even age. They even had that much information about Eri! They even knew her parents and her past yet not a single thing was known about this Deku person. Those things were left blank by _him_ , yet there were still speculations about the greenette's actual age.

"This...this is all of it?" Aizawa placed the file down and pinched the bridge of his nose, "No. There has to be more than that. Did they do a search of Shinohara's house?"

The white haired creature simply shook his head no as he sighed, "The police are currently searching it. They will bring back a full report after school is out. Speaking of which, don't you, All Might, and some of the other teachers have to get approval for the dorms?"

Aizawa sighed, irritated. "It must of slipped my mind..." he grumbled. He plopped himself down in the seat across from Nezu as he picked up one of the missing child reports. It was a kid who looked relatively similar to Deku, but the kid lacked the green eye color and waves that he had. Others were the same, not really fitting how Deku looked. Aizawa looked up, "Did you ever think of the possibility that his parents didn't actually lose him? That he was just abandoned like Shinohara said?"

Nezu hummed, "Yes but if that were the case, he would have been with Shinohara his whole life. Going through that kind of abuse for such a long period of time, don't you think that he would have shown some signs of that?"

Aizawa paused, "He wasn't responding after meeting with his—with Shinohara. That might've done something..." The room went silent with an uneasiness slowly filling it.

Nezu cleared his throat, "I'll be sure to look out for that and let the others know when they look after him and Eri." Aizawa looked to the side, remembering that one or two of the teachers would be in charge of watching both Eri and Deku. Though, there would most likely be more than one person because...well, Deku.

Aizawa nodded as he stood up and left the room, going to look for Eri so they can get lunch. _Damn, now I have to tell her we won't have enough time to see Deku._

Eri didn't mind for the most part, she knew he was safe so she didn't complain when she was told she would have to wait until school was over.

* * *

It was heartbreaking.

It was the end of the school day and the police had stopped by to give a copy of the report they had made upon seeing Shinohara's house. There wasn't anything really odd or suspicious about the outside. The inside wasn't that bad either...until you got to a certain hallway.

In the hallway was a couple of rooms. The main ones being the weight room, the training room, and a small closet down the hallway. The weight room was normal, but the other two rooms...not so much. The training room appeared normal, but upon closer inspection you could see little splats of blood on the wall that were obviously very old. On the other hand, there were small darker patches on the...pink? Rug. Well, the police later found out that the rug was originally white. It wasn't as bad as they expected, but on the other hand, Deku hadn't been living there for _years_ , so maybe there would have been more to it if it had been a couple years prior.

Then, the last room. It appeared to be a closet, when, in reality, it functioned as Deku's room. It was about the size of a medium sized walk in closet, only having enough room for a futon and a small built closet, like a little open up pantry that wasn't built into the wall. The people investigating the house were intrigued by the small closet. It was dusty, meaning that no one had messed with it for a while. They opened the doors to find a couple of clothes for a young teen or kid. There was a little shelf behind it. At the bottom of the closet was what seemed to be school books, but what was odd was that the clothes were positioned in front of the shelf at the top, making it barely noticeable. So the clothes were moved out of the way, only to see a very well carved out trap door it seemed. They opened it.

Inside was food rotting away along with a couple of notes scribbled on pieces of paper. These papers were bunched up. Some of them said things like:

_Be good. Do your work._

𝕀 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕕𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪 𝕟𝕒𝕞𝕖

𝐼𝓉 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉𝓈 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒...

𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞.

_Kids should listen. Be obedient._

ᵂʰᵉʳᵉ ⁱˢ ᵐʸ ᵐᵒᵐᵐʸ?

𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕀 𝕤𝕝𝕖𝕖𝕡, 𝕚𝕥'𝕤 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕜. 𝕀 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕜

ℙ𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔

_They should listen to the adults without resistance._

𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕣𝕪.

ᴰᵒⁿ'ᵗ ˢᶜʳᵉᵃᵐ. ᴴᵉ ᵈᵒᵉˢⁿ'ᵗ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ⁱᵗ.

_Quirks are made for people to get stronger and some people are just strong. But I'm not. I'm weak, so I have to build my way up so I can be recognized as someone._

𝐼𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝓃𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓁 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒷𝓁𝑒𝑒𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝓊𝒸𝒽?

_Keep going no matter what._

ᴰᵒⁿ'ᵗ ˢᶜʳᵃᵗᶜʰ. ᴵᵗ ᵐᵃᵏᵉˢ ⁱᵗ ʷᵒʳˢᵉ

_Train. Work harder._

ʜᴇʟᴘ

And the last one...

G̷͎̹̪̰̊͐̐̀͆͝o̸̢̤͔͉̬̖̰͐̌͆̇̎ͅͅõ̴̧̢͚͈̿̍͊̄̈̾̒̕d̵̡͖̥͓̘̉́̽̆̏̓̽ͅb̶͎̫̗̼̱͋̇y̴̛̖̦̹̅̈́̐̒̈́͊e̶̪̰͖̠̲̍͌̂͛͘

A couple of the more ominous ones were more crinkled, sometimes having parts of it burnt or blood covering some of it. The investigators concluded that they didn't want to read any further; they put the notes away for later. They then turned to observe the rest of the room, which, wasn't much.

There was a worn out futon on the ground with a couple of little blood stains on it. The blanket by it was thrown to the side rather harshly. They peaked under the futon to see a couple of cloths and bandages, an unusual shade of red for bandages that were supposed to be white. The rest of the room was practically empty, the only other noticeable thing in the room was a small dent in the wall. It appeared as if someone had punched it. With that, the investigators decided that was all that was needed for now; they would come back later for more evidence.

Detective Tsukauchi made his way to UA with the copy of the file filled with things they had discovered after visiting the house. He had the file sitting in the passengers seat, and when he arrived at the school, he grabbed it and stepped out of the vehicle.

He arrived at Nezu's office.

He swiftly placed the files on his desk while waving hello. Nezu nodded in acknowledgement as he glanced towards the papers set in front of him. He opened the file as the detective sat down. His interest peaked as he found the notes along with some pictures of how the house looked. The critter picked up one of the notes with his tiny paw and immediately read the words:

𝕄𝕪 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝𝕤 𝕖𝕞𝕡𝕥𝕪. ℕ𝕠𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕀'𝕞 𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕣𝕪. 𝕀𝕥 𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕥𝕤. ℍ𝕠𝕨 𝕕𝕠 𝕀 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕡𝕒𝕚𝕟 𝕘𝕠 𝕒𝕨𝕒𝕪?

He glanced up at Tsukauchi, who had a sad look in his eyes as he sighed. "And to think this is probably only half of what he's been through considering being with the league and the Yakuza..." The male's black eyes drifted back to the file. "He has knowledge about school things since he had textbooks and things of that sort when he went to investigate. It's obvious that Shinohara wouldn't have had time to teach the boy so that brings up the idea of him having a tutor. They would certainly have an approximation of how long ago they had stopped the tutoring along with a description of what Deku looked like at the time. Maybe his appearance was altered when he joined the Yakuza which is why we can't find anything that fits his description."

Nezu nodded at the information as he continued to shift through the papers. Eventually, he had gathered them all and put them back in the file. "So these are the papers that I can keep, correct?" Detective Tsukauchi nodded in response as Nezu hummed. "Alright. I'll be sure to give you more information when it pops up and you will do likewise as agreed." The white furred creature hopped off the chair as he put away the file in the drawer close to the ground. At that, the detective waved goodbye and left.

* * *

Why did he feel sick?

He wasn't punched in the stomach and he was sure Recovery Girl said he was fine earlier. But...he felt unusually cold. But why? It wasn't winter and it was warm in the room. He was under the covers, but that didn't help much. He also felt like his throat was scratchy, like he wouldn't be able to talk right if he wanted to. It felt like nails were digging at his neck, making speech seem almost impossible at the moment. He felt his heart beat increase until his heart was pounding against his ribcage. But why? He wasn't exercising so what was the issue?

He silently gripped the bedsheets, wanting the awful burning sensation to go away. He felt that every time he took in a breath of air, it was like there was none left. He felt like he was choking, like he was suffocating. Yet, no one was in the room doing anything to have this effect on him. Maybe he just needed to eat? Perhaps it was just those silly hallucinations that he got whenever he didn't eat sometimes. But...he couldn't do that. He couldn't ask. It was in his little notes and reminders that he had kept in his old room,

"Ḍ̶̼̒̊̃̀͋ȍ̸͔͕̰ͅñ̴̨͕͉̗̱̜͉̪̹'̶̯͚̦̮̰̩̯͈̹̔̐̔̂ť̸̢͈̞̱̤̼͕̞̘̻͆̅ ̸̖̞͛̑̀͑ḁ̶͈͗́̎̑̈́͝͝s̵̹̜̼̼̔̇͝ḵ̸̰̫̞̏͆̉͐͊̈͝ ̸͉͉͙̻̀̈́̄̓͑f̷̧̣̜̣͈͈̗͈͗̋̄̀͂̔ͅõ̷̢̱͔̠̋͋̿̐̀̏r̵̢̩̜̩̠͘ͅ ̷̡̨͙͈͈͎̱̀̔̒t̸͖͓͓͖͇̬̠͉̾͑͌h̶̩͚̫̽͒̐̂͋̊i̶͎̪̙͈̮̟̥̓͊͗̆n̷̨̛̖̻̠̤̞̘̜͒̈́̈̋̽̒͋͂͝g̶̨͉̘̱͙͇͚̫̮̮͊͒̅̂̈́̋s̸͔̲̫͍̫̬̻̠̓̅̏̓̑̆͝ ̴͙̭̠̩̹͕̱̠̒͊y̸̛̮̎̀̐̑̒́̚õ̴̡̭̻̭̖͉̫͙͒̈̊̇̐͊̚u̸̘̻̾͑̀̀̂̐́̃͘ ̸̰̝̒̍́̈́̿̈́̇̀̚͘ͅŭ̵͉̘n̷̪̥̔̾͆͐͝g̵͎̑r̸̡͖̺͈͂ă̸̟̦͓͚̫͈̮̬̈́̾͌̚ͅt̸̞̙̰̐̆̌͜ȩ̵̙̦̙̱͉̿̇̈́͝f̵̧͎̻͔̳̦́̿̏̚͝ù̷̠̥̜̃͑͌̑̕̕͠͝l̵̨̛̛̦̺̙̰͈͖͚͔̜͂̌̌̍̍͘͝ ̴̤̓̀͐̅̋c̵̢̛͚͖̗̼̲͚̘͔̔͒̃͑̍̌̆̀͜h̴̛̞̬̲͚̻̬͉̎̌̃̊̏ͅi̶͔̍͂l̴̜̬̲͆̋̋̚d̸̲̮̝͓̥͈̜̦͔̄̊̕͠"

His thoughts were flooded with memories of that place. Blood. Yelling. Hitting. Then he thought of his time with the Yakuza and the league. In a moment, all of the memories clashed together, a distressed whimper had left his mouth as he tried to force it shut. _No no no! Don't cry! They'll punish you if you do. But...aren't they heroes? Shinohara was a hero but look what happened. For all you know..._

His mind went blank. Why did he feel so dizzy all of a sudden? It's not like he was doing anything. He isn't doing anything. **He isn't doing anything**. He's worthless, useless just sitting in this hospital bed. But...he felt like he couldn't move.

It was like invisible weights chained him down and water was surrounding him, drowning him so he couldn't breathe. And all the chains did was make it harder, wanting him to sink down farther than he already was. He didn't want to be dragged down; the chains were forcing him down into the darkness, but the only place he wanted to go now was up. He felt the pressure of the chains around his wrists. No. Not again. They reminded him so much of those stupid quirk nullifying bracelets. Maybe if he had been able to use his quirk, he would have been able to save Bakugo back then. All Might wouldn't have retired if only he was strong enough to save the person right in front of him. But he couldn't. He clawed at the chains on his wrists, trying to get them to go away.

More chains were added.

He couldn't fight back any longer. He was weak and pathetic. _I need to get stronger to break these chains._ He felt himself fall as the chains gently brought him down into the cold abyss. He was finally enveloped in the darkness.

And right now it seems like there's no escape.


	11. Nicknames

It had been a couple of days, roughly a week since Deku was rescued. He was on bed rest up until today, so now he's able to walk around freely.

Not really a good thing for the class, or so they think.

Aizawa slugged into the class with Deku and Eri trailing behind him; Eri was on the greenette's shoulders, messing with his slightly curly and wavy semi-long hair. Though, people seemed to notice that she no longer had the mint green blanket with her like she usually did.

Aizawa just sat himself down on the floor as he announced, "Since the dorms are now ready, you will utilize today to move everything into your rooms," He paused before pulling out a paper and sliding it in front of him, "Here are your room assignments. And yes, Deku is staying with you in the dorms. Your luggage that you sent over earlier should be in the rooms."

After the tired teacher had explained himself, Kaminari decided to speak up. He stood up and slammed his hands down on the table, "W-Wait! You mean us staying there with him? Unsupervised? What about-"

There was mumbling from the greenette that was faintly heard. Kaminari stopped rambling and looked over at the greenette who was looking at the floor.

Deku felt a lump in his throat and he couldn't explain why. When he had heard the blond talking about him, he felt a familiar pain churn through his stomach. Did these people not want anything to do without him, either? Just like his parents....

He looked up when he felt a tap on his head. He tilted his head slightly to see Eri staring at him with her huge crimson red eyes. He just nodded her head at her; it was like a silent form of communication that they had understood without actually planning it out aloud. They just knew that a nod meant 'I'm fine', a glance off to the side meant, 'It's nothing, just thinking', and a shake of the head meant 'I'm hurt'.

Deku had shut up and turned to look at Aizawa who was looking up to him from his sleeping bag. The greenette messed with the bandages on his right arm; Recovery Girl had healed it, but he was told that there would be small scars scattered across his arms. He was slightly relieved when she hadn't asked about the huge scar trailing up his right arm, from his upper arm down to his elbow. He didn't want to explain it; it brought back bad memories.

The freckled teen glanced at the floor while Eri just messed with his hair some more since she was still on his shoulders. Aizawa turned to the class and glared at Kaminari to sit down. The blond complied as the ravenette started to speak, "I'm sure he'll be able to handle himself. I trust him with not hurting anyone, however, he will have to wear quirk nullifying bracelets-"

He was cut off by Eri, who had started shaking her head, "He doesn't like those please don't make him wear them!" She gave the black haired male a pained look as she hugged the greenette's head.

"It's fine, Eri. If I have to, then I have to. It's no big deal...." His voice had sounded so...dead. It made the students uneasy but it also made them feel bad; they knew that he was associated with the villains beforehand, but they didn't exactly know why he had stayed with them when he could've escaped a while ago. Only a select few students had actually trusted the greenette based off of past experiences with him; Deku had proved to them that he was willing to sacrifice his life to save people, and not hurt them.

The class was silent until Aizawa gestured Eri to go with Deku since she was the only one out of the two looking up. She whispered to the greenette that they should wait outside, so Deku agreed.

When they had stepped out and shut the door, Aizawa had turned to them, "You should at least make an attempt to know him. Put a little faith in him. If you're wondering, Eri will be staying with me in the teacher's dorms. Anyways, one of you will need to show him around eventually; don't overwhelm him. Oh and...we recently found out that he's around your ages so maybe you could show him what it's like to be a teenager. We still don't know his weak spots in terms of what he's feeling so be cautious of that. That's all for now. Dismissed." He stood up from his sleeping bag, picked it up, and walked out of the room.

What he didn't tell the class, however, was that the bracelets that he would be using didn't deactivate his quirk; it was a simple test Nezu had come up with to see how reliable the greenette truly was. As for his age, the police had found out who the tutor actually was after some investigation. She was kind enough to cooperate and remembered that the greenette was around three or four when she began to teach him; it had been approximately ten years before he had disappeared, meaning he had to be around thirteen or fourteen when he was sold off to the Yakuza. With that in mind, they had learned from Overhaul–when they interrogated him– that he had Deku in his possession for roughly a year, meaning he was either fourteen or fifteen when adding on the couple of weeks he had been with the league.

"Our age, huh? And to think he doesn't know what the word happy means..." Bakugo muttered aloud as the class was silent.

"Well we can show him just like we showed Eri, right?" Uraraka smiled as he punched her hand up in the air. Iida had walked over to get the paper that had the listings of the dorm rooms. He scanned the paper, not looking for his name, but someone else's.

"Well aren't you guys at least a _little_ concerned? He's strong even without using his quirk, whatever it is. So what if he's actually still working with the villains and we don't know it-" Sero was interrupted by someone slamming their hands on the desk; it was one of the last people he had expected it to be.

"Are you kidding me? You still suspect he's a villain after he risked his _life_ to keep us safe back at the camp? Did anyone mention to you that when he fought Stain, he protected Iida and me? He even took a knife to the back and arm in order to keep us safe. And back at the camp? The reason why he had some of those injuries wasn't because of the league; it was because he didn't have a quirk to save people as effectively as if he did have one. So he decided that in order to save those people, he would have to sacrifice having a beat up body. And then! He even took a knife through his leg for Uraraka! They said they were going to _kill_ him if he ever went back with those villains!" Todoroki gritted out as he spoke to the class. They were silent until someone else spoke up.

"He...he even helped save my ass during the Kamino incident. He could barely walk but he stayed behind to take care of those low lives..." Bakugo muttered as he glanced at the sheet before heading out.

* * *

"Well everyone is done with their rooms, right? Why don't we do something as a class?" Ashido asked as she slumped over the couch. A couple of people looked over at the pink skinned girl.

"That counts Deku too, right?" Uraraka questioned as she looked over from the other couch. Ashido nodded, looking around for the greenette. Now that they realized it, they hadn't seen him since they were in the classroom. "Did anyone even check on him?" The brunette asked.

At that moment, the greenette had walked into the common room, strolling past everyone as his semi-long hair was up in a small bun. He had weights and other things; they were presumably for training. A certain redhead was quick to step in front of the greenette, stopping him in his tracks. The dull emerald eyes peered up at the taller male, having his normal blank expression per usual.

"Hold on a second, dude. It's getting late and I don't think it's a good idea to be training. You were just able to start walking correctly without a limp so I suggest you don't do that," Kirishima implied as he waved his hands around.

Deku processed what the redhead had said and took out specific parts to put into his response. "Well, that's just a suggestion so I'll decline. Either way, I haven't trained in a couple of days just because of a couple of broken bones and a limp. That's not acceptable. What good would I be if I get knocked down that easily? I can't...I need to get stronger. I was already...." he glanced off to the side and shut his mouth tightly. He bowed as he spoke, "I apologize for rambling. If it is a suggestion then it's my choice to not take it." The freckled teen turned and headed out the door, but he recognized someone had followed him; he didn't comment on it.

"Why are you following me?" Deku had turned to where he sensed the presence. A familiar ash blond had stepped out of the bushes as he gave the greenette a scowl. He noticed that the freckled boy had tensed up slightly upon seeing his expression, so Bakugo decided to try and soften his face a little, as well as his voice before speaking.

"Well obviously you still have a little limp still. So why are you walking around when your hurt? It's only going to make things worse," the crimson eyed blond had stated as he inched towards the shorter boy. Now that Bakugo realized it, the greenette was actually really short for someone their age; he looked around five foot one...maybe a solid five foot? The ash blond realized it was most likely due to his bones breaking, which, was presumably a norm for him based off of his reaction back at the camp. This probably stunted his growth.

"Well I can still train-"

He was cut off by Bakugo, "Relax! Do you see any of us training right now? You do know it's not normal to be training while you're injured, right?"

The greenette was perplexed. He was told that he had to train every day of the week, no matter how battered up his body appeared. The freckled teen slowly shook his head, "I'm afraid I'm far from your standards. I apologize...." he closed his eyes as Bakugo stepped closer, though if you looked close enough, you could see that Deku was trembling.

The ash blond cautiously put his hand on the greenette's shoulder, making him flinch. "That wasn't a hard enough hit..." Deku muttered under his breath. Bakugo's eyes widened slightly as he heard that.

"Deku...you know we're not here to hurt you, right? There's no consequence for what you're doing. You just need to learn what to do. Can I ask you something? ...What's your real name? Not the nickname, 'Deku'." Bakugo tried to encourage the greenette to meet his eyes by ducking his head down. Though, he didn't directly want to state it; the freckled boy might take it as an order. He thought that he could get him to answer simple questions about himself to stop him from trembling.

"Nickname..?" Deku slowly looked up. "That's just my name, well, for now. I don't have an actual name." Okay. Maybe it wasn't a simple question.

"It's like a made up name based off of maybe the person's appearance, personality, or actual name," Bakugo explained briefly.

"In that case..." Deku thought of the noticeable characteristics of the blond in front of him. Wait. Wasn't he supposed to be the loud, angry person he always was? What changed? Either way, he was going to stick with the nickname; it matched his quirk and personality.

"I'll call you Kacchan."


	12. Something’s Wrong

It was day two of Deku being in the dorms, but now it was time to go to school. There was one issue though.

Yaoyorozu and Iida were standing outside of Deku's door since they were the class president and vice president. They weren't entirely sure how to interact with the greenette since he hadn't really talked with anyone. Even when he did, the conversations were usually cut short by Deku himself. The two looked at the door, Yaoyorozu was hesitant, but Iida gladly knocked on the door. There was shuffling on the other side of the door until it was hesitantly opened.

The emerald eyes landed on the two taller teens before him; he stood up straight and opened the door. The two noticed that the greenette was already dressed; he wasn't wearing a UA uniform since, technically, he didn't go to the school. He was, however, wearing workout clothes; his face was flushed and sweat trickled down his face. Some of his green hair stuck to his forehead, the rest of it was bunched up in a small bun. They noticed he had blood on his knuckles.

Yaoyorozu gasped as she went to reach for his hand, but it was pulled away. She looked up to see Deku with his blank expression, but you could see him slightly shaking as he took a small step back. He seemed to notice what he was doing as he stood up straighter, closing his eyes and preparing for either yelling or a blow to the head.

Instead, he felt someone's hand move to his own and hold it there, flipping it over once a few seconds passed by. The freckled teen hesitantly looked up to see the black haired girl inspecting his hand. He snapped his attention to the blue haired teen, who he knew as Iida, as he started to speak. "What exactly were you doing?" He asked as he looked down at the shorter boy.

"I was training," Deku replied as he glanced off to the side, "I wasn't allowed to earlier but...I'm sorry if I disobeyed any rules. You can punish me as necessary." The other two exchanged glances before looking back at the shortest teen.

"No no. We aren't going to do any of that. But we do want you to come with us so we can fix up your hand," Yaoyorozu explained as she slid her hands down, tugging slightly at his wrist. Deku wasn't sure if he should let go or not so he just nodded as the girl dragged him down the hallway like a little kid. Iida trailed behind them after shutting the greenette's dorm room.

They ended up in the common room and were greeted by a couple of people, but someone started to speak up about Yaoyorozu leading Deku to who knows where. "What are you doing, Yaoyorozu?" Todoroki questioned as she told Deku to sit down in the stool next to Todoroki.

The dual haired teen turned his attention to the greenette, who had his head down while his bloody hand was in his lap. Deku was tapped on the shoulder so he looked over to see Bakugo giving him a weird look. "Why did Ponytail drag you down here?" he asked as he clicked his tongue.

The greenette's blank face twisted a tiny bit still not noticeable though; he looked over to Yaoyorozu, who was looking for a med kit. Everyone in the common room was already dressed for school, but there were a couple who weren't downstairs yet; Iida went to go get them without the black haired girl. Deku snapped his attention back to the ash blond who was waiting for an answer. "Oh. She was going to help me with this," he pulled up his red hand before setting it back down in his lap, "Though, it would've just healed by itself just fine."

Todoroki stopped eating his breakfast as his face twisted with worry. He stood up and tugged on the greenette's shirt, "Come on, you have to clean that off." Deku looked to Bakugo for help out of the situation but the ash blond just pushed him to the sink as Todoroki guided him.

"Fuck. There's blood on the floor," Bakugo grumbled. Someone gasped from the common room, which was connected to the kitchen. The ash blond turned around to see a brunette girl making an agitated face.

"Bakugo! You're really going to say bad words in front of him? For all we know he could be innocent!" Uraraka shouted, but turned her attention to the greenette, who had started to speak. They couldn't hear what he said, but Todoroki did since he was closest to him; the dual haired teen's eyes widened at the statement though. "Um...Deku? Could you say that a little louder? We couldn't hear you," The brunette asked; the 'we' referring to the other people listening in on the conversation.

He turned around as best as he could while Bakugo and Todoroki rinsed off his bloodily hand with water; surprisingly, they weren't at each other's throats. The freckled teen just stated casually, "I already know what 'bad words' are. Though, I didn't know that that was their actual name. I just called them bad words because if _he_ said them, then...really bad things would happen..." he turned away as his voice trailed off, a bit of, what some people could barely make out, was fear in his voice. "So...is something bad going to happen..?" He murmured softly as he looked back at Bakugo.

The ash blond was quick to respond, "Wha- no. Remember what I told you earlier?" He sighed as he grabbed the washcloth Todoroki had handed him to get the blood off, "Well they're called curse words too. When people are mad then they will say them."

Deku stayed silent after that; the rest of the class was quite worried for their new companion. Todoroki looked over the injured hand as the blood stared to mix with the clear water. "What were you doing for your hand to end up like this? The cuts look a bit deep," he asked as he looked down at the emerald eyed boy.

"Well I was training. Kacchan told me I shouldn't do it so he brought me back here. But I need to get stronger," he replied.

"Without a quirk?" Bakugo eyed him as he grabbed the hand and took it out of the sink. Todoroki grabbed the bandages from Yaoyorozu and thanked her as the ash blond brought the injured hand to where the dual haired teen could treat it.

Deku nodded at the question but some people were confused. Kirishima burst out laughing, making the greenette jump up and flinch. The freckled teen moved closer to the two boys next to him as he made a small noise. "Did he just call you Kacchan? What kind of-"

"Shut up! You're scaring him!" Todoroki hissed as he pulled the greenette closer by grabbing his shoulder. Deku didn't respond well to that either; he grabbed the hand sitting on his shoulder and held it with both of his hands, effectively flipping the dual haired teen over him. Todoroki had gotten the wind knocked out of him.

Deku was quick to snap out of it and realized why he had done. His focus drifted to the dual haired teen who was laying on the ground. The greenette bent down and quickly began to speak, "I apologize. I'm used to reacting in a aggressive way with..unexpected contact." Todoroki groaned as he nodded, sitting up while Bakugo asked a question.

"Ok but what about shitty hair? What did he do to make you act like that?" The ash blond questioned, almost demanding answers. Of course, he tried not to sound demanding so it wouldn't startle the boy.

"Whenever Shinohara, the guy I lived with, made a noise like that, it meant he was really frustrated with me. It tended to ended up with..." his stopped as he forced his mouth shut, his throat started to close up again. The room was cold again; he felt _sick_ again. He sat down on the floor next to the dual haired teen.

"Hey! It's fine, you don't have to tell us right now. Just focus on-" Todoroki was cut off by the freckled teen shakily standing up. The only word Deku could manage to say was 'bathroom'. Bakugo was quick to lead him there while the dual haired teen stood up from the ground. He watched as the other two went to the bathroom and looked to the blood on the floor. _Right. We still have to fix up his hand. But we also still have forty-five minute before we're supposed to be at school..._ the heterochromatic eyed boy thought before grabbing the bandages he had dropped.

It had been a couple of minutes before Bakugo peaked his head out of the bathroom. "Someone go be fucking useful and get Aizawa," he grumbled before turning back to the bathroom. Yaoyorozu agreed to go since Iida was still waking people up for school.

No one really wanted to intervene and ask Bakugo was happening for two reasons: First of all, it was Bakugo. Second of all, they didn't even know Deku that well so they shouldn't get into his business like that. Todoroki, Asui, Uraraka, and eventually Iida did know at least as much as Bakugo did about the boy–at least they thought– so they went to see what was wrong. Tokoyami and Shouji would've done so as well, but they felt that if they did go, then there would be way too many people.

The four had entered the bathroom; Todoroki had the bandages at hand as well as other things to attend to the cuts on the greenette's hand. If Uraraka and Asui were being honest, they didn't really care if they weren't supposed to be in the boy's bathroom, they were just worried about the boy who had helped save them and their classmates. As soon as they entered, they could hear vomit hitting water. They looked over and noticed two people in one of the stalls; one appeared to be crouching while the other was on their knees. There was blood on the floor as well, most likely from the cut on Deku's hand.

They walked over to see the stall open. Bakugo was crouched down near the greenette while Deku was hunched over the toilet. Once the freckled teen had stopped, he breathed over the toilet heavily, probably the most expressive the boy has been since he arrived.

Once he was finished, he leaned against the stall, seemingly exhausted. Deku looked up, he was sweating, his eyes lazily flickering over to the four outside the stall before he looked down at his lap. "I apologize..." he muttered. "I can still attend school if need be-"

He was interrupted. "Are you kidding? You're sick! You shouldn't be thinking about that," Uraraka explained as she threw her hands up.

"Wh-" the greenette stopped himself as he turned to Bakugo, "We aren't supposed to do stuff when we're sick, are we?" He sounded slightly defeated when he asked that.

Bakugo shook his head as he grabbed a piece of toilet paper from behind him, wiping off the small bit of vomit off of Deku's face. He tossed the tissue in the toilet before flushing it and standing up, holding a hand out to the freckled teen.

"Come on, let's-" he was interrupted by a familiar voice coming from behind the four students in front of the stall.

"What is going on here?"

The four students turned around while Bakugo and Deku snapped their attention to the side, where the voice was coming from. "

"Oh! Mr. Aizawa..."


	13. Familiar Yet Unfamiliar

Aizawa made the others get out of the bathroom as he went to tend to Deku. Before they left, Todoroki handed the teacher the medical supplies he had, simply telling the teacher he likely needed it.

The others had walked into the common room, seeing a worried Eri sitting on the couch. The ones who went to help Deku were immediately asked about him by the little girl. "Is Deku okay?" She asked the others as she messed with her long hair nervously.

Iida was quick to reassure her, "He'll be okay! It seems as though he is just feeling a little under the weather!" He made hand chopping motions, but Eri just appeared confused as she looked to the others to translate for her.

"He's sick, ribbit," Asui answered. Uraraka nodded at the statement and dragged Eri to the couch.

"Here! We can do your hair while we wait on Mr. Aizawa and Deku," the brunette offered as she gave a smile. Eri nodded and gave off a little smile as well.

* * *

It had been a week, and, so far, there weren't many issues. Deku would always stay with Eri when it came time for hero training. He was confused as to why he was excluded from training, which is why he tended to do his own training in his room. Though, he tended to push himself too much, training until he passed out or got interrupted by a knock at his door.

Currently, he was fairly intrigued by the heroics lesson that Aizawa had been planning for a couple of days. The two heroics classes would have a training session together; it was a fairly good idea, though they had to be cautious as well.

Since they wanted to see how Deku would do as a hero, they let him participate in this activity. They made sure that they would both be on guard when it the greenette's turn. All Might was there as well, in his non-buff form, wanting to see how well Deku was in combat. This was mostly just a test just to see how well the classes were when it came to battle; the teachers wanted to see if they were well off enough to participate in the provisional license exams.

They weren't doing anything too grand, just having people split into groups of four; so there would be five battles in total, a four on four. They were using ground beta(the city like area) for the battles. Everyone was ready; Deku was told to wear the UA gym uniform. And after that, the battles had begun.

Everything was going fairly smoothly; Deku had gotten the chance to work with people of both class 1-A and 1-B, but the teachers noticed that no matter what class or what team he was put with, he always came out as the winning team. They noted that, despite him not knowing the others that well, he worked around their quirks easily, while also not using his own, whatever it was.

By the fifth match, they weren't really worried about what was going to happen. On 1-B's side was Monoma, Kodai, Yanagi, Shoda, and Deku. On 1-A's side was Uraraka, Ashido, Todoroki, and Shinso. Deku was already familiar with the area due to the past four fights he had done, so he devised the plan; he was already familiar with some of their quirks because of the sports festival, but he needed to know some of the quirks he didn't know about.

Aizawa noticed that it was like a switch had been flicked. Deku was...sensitive off the battlefield, flinching slightly on any sort of contact. However, on the battlefield, he wouldn't hesitate to do anything or take down anyone in his path. Currently, Deku was up against Shinso, easily dodging the capture gear and refusing to speak. Monoma was against Todoroki; the blond had tapped the dual haired teen, gaining his quirks. Since there was ice surrounding the place–and totally _not_ because Monoma was cold–the blond had decided to use the fire quirk.

Though, Monoma didn't realize how difficult it would be to use the fire quirk, since Todoroki never really trained it much. Deku had successfully captured Shinso at this point, turning his attention to the other two. The blond had released a huge ball of reddish orange flames, accidentally projecting it towards Ashido and Kodai, who were fighting each other. Aizawa was nearby, so he had erased the quirk; it was too late since the flames were already hurdling towards the two. There was a blur of green running towards the two girls, and they were pushed out of the way.

Some expected Deku to be yelling from pain due to the hot fire. When, in fact, the opposite had happened. The fire actually started to _change_. It went from ruby red and amber hues to bluish green to royal blue, up until it had finally changed to a royal purple. They noticed that the purple flames had started to move, away from everyone. They changed back to a cooler temperature, the red and orange flames, if they got to close to someone. The flames went near the ice, melting it quickly. That is until they slowly disappeared.

Some of the students looked around in confusion, others looked to Monoma, but the blond had a very confused look on his face. Deku, meanwhile, just stared down at his hands. He remembered that, technically, they still had a battle going on. So he held his palm out and activated his quirk again to see if what he had witnessed was real. To his surprise, a familiar small flame flickered in his palm. His eyes shone as he put the flame out, turning to any object that might've been laying around. He noticed there was nothing, but remembered the capture tape they were given to tie down the opposing side. He took it out of his pocket and flung his hands in different directions: one towards Todoroki and the other towards Ashido. After they were wrapped with the tape, he flung the last bit of tape towards Uraraka, who, was attempting to fight off both Shoda and Yanagi.

Everyone hesitated for a second before Deku had spoken up, looking towards Aizawa who was nearby in case anything happened. He huffed as he fiddled with the quirk bracelets on his wrists, "These...these don't stop my quirk. Was that supposed to happen?" Aizawa turned to Deku, an intrigued look playing on his face. That was, until Vlad King announced that class 1-B had won.

The greenette had released his quirk, which is what was keeping the tape around the three. He had noticeable burn marks on his hands, and some bits of the top part of his outfit was burned as well. One of the most notable things was his hair; part of the long wavy forest hair was burnt off since he failed to put it in it's normal bun, leaving it down. He looked up lazily, having used his quirk on three different things going in three different directions wasn't something he trained for before. He dropped down on his knees before falling over, passing out on the pavement of the city road.

* * *

  
_Beep...beep...beep._

Oh how familiar this was, at least, since he's been at UA.

Deku sat up in the bed, looking around and finding no one there. He touched his cheek, feeling a bandage there, along with some on his hands and torso. He looked further to find Recovery Girl wasn't in her office as usual. Confused, he had hopped off the bed, only to realize that his quirk bracelets had been removed. He curiously glanced around the room before heading to the door, only to find it opening before he could open it.

He seemed to shrink in on himself as he noticed Class 1-A standing there. The fact that he was so short made it worse. He stood there hesitantly before a hand reached out to him. He watched as the hand touched his shoulder; he tracked the hand back to Uraraka, who was looking down at him slightly. "You shouldn't be out of bed. You don't want to get hurt anymore, do you?" She smiled at him, making him a bit uncomfortable.

Deku's attention shifted elsewhere, hearing someone say something along the lines of, 'He's shorter than I thought, but...he actually looks kind of cute.' His facial expression changed, something that doesn't happen often, as his eyebrows furrowed, looking confused. "What does that mean?" He mumbled, looking to the other people of the class.

Someone awkwardly spoke up, "Uhm..what do you mean..?"

Deku couldn't figure out who it was, but he answered anyways, "Cute...? I thought I heard someone call me that..." For the past week, Deku had warmed up a little more to the class, speaking his mind a little more while also asking questions if he had any. Though, he was still hesitant in doing so.

There was a groan in the crowd amongst the small squeals from some of the girls. "Jeez go on and steal all of the girls' hearts, will you, Deku?" The greenette looked down to see a short purple haired boy escaping the crowd of students gathered at the door. He recognized the short boy from the sports festival, Minoru Mineta.

Deku's eyes widened, giving him an innocent appearance, one no one has seen before since his eyes were usually half lidded. "What do you mean? I'm not stealing anything...?" His expression faltered, going back to its normal blank expression with half lidded eyes, "I'm sorry..." Some people had a light tint of pink on their cheeks from seeing his face like that.

"Could you do that again?" Deku looked over to see Kaminari was the one who had asked the question. The freckled teen shook his head.

"I'm not supposed to do that...Shinohara said so..." he muttered as he stared down at his feet. Surprisingly, out of all of the people, Bakugo grabbed him and led him to the bed, letting the other students waiting outside file into the room. The ash blond guided the shorter boy to the bed, making him sit down once he had gotten there. Though, Deku still appeared to be upset.

Bakugo looked at the greenette, making the freckled teen look up to meet his eyes; Deku knew he would be hurt if he didn't meet someone's eyes when they were speaking to him, Shinohara told him it was rude and disrespectful. Crimson eyes met dull emerald ones as the ash blond spoke, "I told you that you don't have to listen to what that bast- What that _man_ told you."

Deku nodded before looking to his other classmates, focusing on Kaminari. He let his eyes go to how they should be, opened wide, making them stand out more. The greenette blinked a couple of times, rubbing his eyes afterwards. He looked over to the rest of the class, smiles plastered on some of their faces.

Ashido smiled widely, "Cute! Can we see you smile?" She bunched her hands up, eager to see the greenette smile. Deku, however, just gave a confused look again; it was probably the only other face he could make other than a face of discomfort and pain. The pink skinned girl frowned, along with some of the other people who were smiling, "You know..." she showed a toothy smile, "...like this!"

Deku's mouth twitched as he tried to do what she asked. He became frustrated when he couldn't do what she was doing; he had brought his bandaged hands up to his face, trying to make himself 'smile'. He felt someone's hand on his own as it reached his face. He looked up, seeing Iida giving him a sympathetic look, though to Deku, he appeared sad. The blue haired boy sighed, "Don't force yourself to do it..." he mumbled.

The class decided that they had a mission now, and that was to try and make Deku smile.


	14. Cupid Used Way too Many Arrows

And there's the sound of the entirety of Class 1-A's hearts exploding.

When Deku was finally able to be released, well, he was actually just sitting in recovery girl's office, he had to make a slight change in his appearance. At the same time, Nezu allowed the greenette to attend UA as a student, meaning he would have to wear his uniform upon returning to class.

What was the change?

Well, Deku had walked into the room, clutching the straps of a yellow book bag Aizawa had gotten him. Quite funny to think about since Aizawa's most prized possession seemed to be a yellow sleeping bag, the same color as the boy's book bag. The short boy had stepped into the classroom while everyone was still in there. He was late but only because Aizawa was taking a nap in the office, which Deku didn't want to wake him up due to the fear of being punished for it.

So, Deku walked down the hallway with  
Aizawa somehow progressing forward by slugging his way down the hallway; Eri was in the teachers lounge so she wouldn't be bored. The greenette had to wonder if Aizawa had experience with it or it was just a natural skill. Deku brushed it off in favor of worrying about how the class— well, his new classmates— would react.

After the training session, Deku was brought to Recovery Girl and treated because of the burns he had sustained. The only reason he even received burns was because he wasn't fast enough.

His quirk was quite complicated yet simple. He had the ability to control fire but also summon it. Along with that, he had telekinesis, though both were very weak when he had first started training them years ago. His body was immune to _his own flames_. So why did he get burned? Well, he was only immune to his flames; the flames he was burned with were Todoroki's. Now this was also because he wasn't fast enough. Since Deku is able to control fire, he is able to control other fire as well, that is, if he makes the fire his own. For example, he could still be burned by Todoroki's fire, but by making the fire his own, Deku could no longer be damaged by it; during the training session he wasn't quick enough to change the fire. The greenette was also able to fluctuate the temperature of his flames, which is why they changed in hue as the temperature rose.

What does this have to do with changing his appearance?

Deku's long, wavy green hair was slightly burnt off after the ordeal, so Aizawa brought the boy to get a haircut. Not a big deal, right?

Actually, the moment Deku had stepped into the classroom with his new appearance marked the day that the supposedly straight people in Class 1-A found they were, in fact, gay.

The class hushed to a whisper and eventually fell silent once Deku stepped foot in the classroom, his red shoes were the only thing heard other than people breathing. It seemed like not that many people were actually breathing though; Deku looked _adorable_ to say the least. He had his loose UA uniform and his yellow book bag as he looked down at the floor. His usual long hair was now short and looked curly compared to the wavy hair he had before. His forest green hair looked so...soft.

His wide eyes filled with different hues of green clashing together as well as the freckles that dusted his cheeks was enough to make anyone want to keep him for themselves. His eyes trailed up to his new classmates upon hearing, well lack of hearing any noise from them. He hesitated as he left his lips slightly agape. He then spoke quietly, "Did I do something...?"

At that moment, Aizawa had walked in, smirking at the realization of what had happened. _Now I know what will shut them up_. He looked at his class before turning to Deku, who didn't have a desk to sit in due to the class being full. The teacher sighed before motioning the greenette to the chair near the wall. "Grab that chair and sit next to the person you feel most comfortable with at the moment. You'll be sharing a desk with them until we get a new one," The black haired male stated.

Deku nodded as he picked up the chair and looked around the room. His eyes met Todoroki's, who was sitting at the back. The greenette's eyes then shifted over to meet Yaoyorozu's, then Mineta's, Shinso's, and finally Bakugo's. Deku made his decision as he walked over to the ash blond's desk and plopped his chair down adjacent to it. He sat down in his chair, with it being perpendicular to where Bakugo was sitting, meaning if Deku were to face forward, he would have to move his body; his back was facing the window.

Aizawa was slightly surprised but nodded, explaining the next focus for their class: creating super moves. Though, they would have to wait to implement their ideas later, for now, homeroom was over.

While they were waiting on Present Mic for their English lesson, almost everyone's attention went to Deku, wanting to ask him a couple of questions. Jiro spoke first since the girl was in his eyesight. "Do you know anything about English?" She asked; everyone had introduced themselves to the boy last week. Though, that wasn't really necessary for some since he told them he recognized most of them from the sports festival.

The freckled teen's eyes flickered up to meet her dark purple eyes. He nodded briefly before stopping and correcting himself, "Yes. But- if I have trouble I think Kacchan can help me...right?" The greenette looked towards the ash blond as the latter slightly tensed up, realizing their close proximity. The crimson eyed boy just nodded as he placed his head in his palm, looking out the window. Someone else was about to ask another question until they noticed Deku had followed Bakugo's eyes and found them looking out the window, where there was a cherry blossom tree sitting in front of a beautiful background of green grass and a wonderfully colored blue sky. The greenette shifted in his seat, getting a better look outside of the window.

Deku sighed as he looked out of the window. Someone wanted to ask him what was wrong until his soft voice rang throughout the room, "What's it like to have a family...?" He thought out loud, not really asking anyone in particular. He was lost in thought, not noticing his classmates' stunned silence.

It was quickly ended by Present Mic, who had burst through the classroom door, "WHO'S READY FOR ENGLISH!?" The rest of the class turned to him, a small bit of hate in their eyes. They noticed Deku wince a little at the yelling, but he had faced the front of the classroom as if he didn't ask a question that was very depressing. With that, their English lesson had started.

* * *

The class was quick to notice how tired Deku was.

The greenette had walked slowly throughout the hallways. And, although it was cute, he had been yawning an awful lot. He made his way towards the lunchroom, already familiar with the building after a week. He felt someone's presence behind him.

The only reason Deku was able to detect people's 'presence' also had to deal with his quirk; he was able to detect people's heat signatures. With that, he was given the task to be able to decipher the difference between every single one he came across. This one, he felt, belonged to Kirishima.

He turned around to see that he was right. There stood the redhead with a wide grin on his face. "Are you heading to the lunchroom?" Kirishima asked the shorter teen.

Deku nodded, "I was going there to get my food then go back to the teachers lounge."

Kirishima frowned, "Why? You can sit with me and my friends if you want..." The redhead was trying to encourage the greenette to get to know the class a little more.

"Well it's too loud in there.." the greenette replied as Kirishima broke eye contact. The taller boy couldn't help but be uncomfortable and slightly flustered when looking into those emerald eyes for such a long time.

"Oh- ok!" Kirishima replied quickly, still having his eyes focused anywhere but the greenette.

Deku paused before asking, "I could walk with you there...?" The redhead nodded as they made their way to the lunchroom. _Way to go, Eijiro_ , Kirishima thought as he looked at the boy besides him out of the corner of his eye. The greenette noticed the redhead staring, "Is there something wrong?" He asked as they continued to walk.

Kirishima waved his hands around, "Ah! No! It just that- I um- I was wondering- How is your gay?- WAIT UM- DAY! H-How is your day?" He smiled nervously while the shorter boy just looked at him, a confused look on his face.

"Are you sick? I could take you to Recovery Girl and tell Eraserhead- or um- Mr. Aizawa– that you weren't feeling well. Your face appears to be red..." Deku asked as he stopped in front of the taller male. The freckled teen tilted his head as he observed the taller boy. He took a minute to think about what to do next. "You don't mind if I touch you, do you?"

At that statement, Kirishima officially wanted to die. His face turned crimson, making his whole head just red: red hair, red eyes, and a red face. "I- uh- um- ...sure?" Once relieving permission, Deku had grabbed the taller boy's wrist, guiding him the rest of the way to the lunchroom.

The greenette stopped in front of Kirishima's table, consisting of: Jiro, Ashido, Kaminari, Bakugo, and Sero. He glanced at the three, who were giving Kirishima questioning glances. He tried to form a sentence but failed miserably; Deku's hand was so close to his and he didn't quite know what to do. The freckled teen spoke, "Do you know what's wrong with him? I was going to take him to recovery girl but I wanted to see if that was really necessary."

Bakugo just glared at Kirishima when they made eye contact. The ash blond just turned to Deku, who was patiently waiting for an answer. "He'll be fine. He just needs to cool off a bit," Kaminari answered for Bakugo. The greenette nodded and turned to the lunch line, noticing that Kirishima would be fine. Afterwards, he left the lunchroom, with eyes following him until he was out of eyesight. Kaminari put his face on the table and whispered, "OhmygodhowdidyoulastthatlongKirishima..."  
("Oh my god how did you last that long Kirishima...")

The redhead placed down his lunch tray, still a little pink from before, "Obviously I didn't. I felt like I was going to faint." He sat down, burying his head in his hands.

Jiro spoke up, "Stop being drama queens." She rolled her eyes as she went to eat her food.

"Uh huh, sure. And you act like you weren't looking at him like that, either," Sero mentioned as he picked at his food.

"And you?" The purple haired girl smirked as he noticed the boy's face flush slightly.

"Well at least I'm willing to admit that I was looking at him. I mean- did you even see him???" Sero asked. Ashido smiled as she found out a new way to make people blush. But first, she turned to Bakugo to see his reaction, "So what do you think, Bakugo? Or should I say, Kacchan~?" She smirked when she noticed he turned away. Bakugo, was in fact, blushing like a maniac. He just put his palm under his chin in hopes that no one would notice it. Though, Ashido _definitely_ noticed.

And to think Deku could have this much impact on someone even without using his quirk.


	15. He Needs Help

It was time for hero training and Deku was pretty lost on what to do. He's never really been a part of the training; he would just sit and watch. He followed Bakugo into the room. Now that the class realized it, whenever the ash blond was around, Deku tended to follow him like a lost puppy.

The greenette was given a locker for his things, though he needed help opening it. There was one problem with that–Deku didn't like getting help. He was taught that he shouldn't have to rely on anyone else; he should be able to do everything on himself for everything: making his own food(though he never really learned how), tending his own wounds, and other things. He messed with the lock and became irritated. He was thinking about burning it off until someone placed their own hands on the lock, but not on Deku so he wasn't that startled.

He glanced behind him and looked up to see Ojiro there. The blond boy gave off a small smile as he gestured towards the lock he was still holding onto. "I could help you if you want," he offered. The greenette quickly shook his head as his green curls went everywhere. Ojiro frowned and thought for a second as he rephrase his sentence, "I could teach you how to unlock it."

Deku, in response, had nodded as he looked towards the lock. The blond had stepped besides the shorter boy and demonstrated how to unlock the lock. The taller boy noticed how intrigued Deku looked as Ojiro popped off the lock. The greenette grabbed it from the blond, taking it in his hands and snapping the lock back on. He used the pin that Ojiro had showed him when unlocking it and twisted the knob. After the last turn he heard the click, indicating he had opened it. He looked up to Ojiro and showed him, in which the blond had nodded while smiling. "Good! Now set the lock down and start changing into your gym uniform," Ojiro instructed as he pointed towards the, now open, locker. The freckled teen nodded and looked to the locker.

He grabbed the uniform and looked around to see some of the others changing. Is that what they did here? Just change in front of one another? Deku looked around before looking back in front of him and tossed the uniform on the bench in front of himself. He began to peel off his uniform and put his clothes in his locker. He took of the pants first; there were a couple of scars but they weren't really noticeable. He slid on the pants part of the gym uniform and tossed his school pants and belt into the locker. Now it was time for the shirt.

He removed his blazer and eventually his shirt, revealing a plethora of scars on his back and a huge red scar trailing down his right arm. Well, that's what the boys could see so far; most of them were staring. Deku turned around, noticing that the once noisy locker room was now silent. He turned around to see everyone looking at him. He shrunk in on himself, "Am I doing something wrong?" He glanced towards Todoroki, who was besides him; he couldn't find Bakugo so he turned to the dual haired teen.

"Well...it's just all of the scars you have. It's not necessary...normal," Todoroki explained. Deku stepped towards the taller male, who was halfway through changing so his chest was exposed. The greenette examined his skin but didn't touch it. Even so, the freckled teen's curious gaze had made Todoroki's face turn pink. The smaller boy was just circling around him, occasionally leaning in a little if he noticed something off. There was a small scar on his back, so Deku reached out and placed his hand on it, rubbing his thumb against it to see if it was actually a scar. The greenette's warm hand felt good on his cold back, but it was still very odd. Though, Todoroki was thankful the shorter boy didn't acknowledge or ask about the one on his face.

Deku finally realized what he was doing and jumped back, tripping and landing on the floor. The greenette backed himself back up into a wall; well, he _thought_ it was a wall. He looked up to see Shinso's dark purple eyes looking down at him curiously. "I'm sorry.." he flinched as he backed away from Shinso as well. Deku closed his eyes and pulled his hand to his chest, feeling that same way he did before. The way he felt like he was sick but really wasn't. The way he was when he felt like he was drowning, like the chains wanted to bring him down into the darkness. He couldn't breathe again. His mind was blank but he noticed a blur of colors infiltrating his vision; it was a mix of purple, white, red, and yellow, along with various other colors.

Was everyone else feeling how he was right now? It could be someone's quirk...no. He already knew everyone's quirk. It must be him.

Deku unknowingly clawed at his wrists, trying to break away the chains that were there; at least, his mind was telling him that they were there. He didn't want to be weighed down. Maybe the extra weight was what was making it difficult to breathe?

The boys in the locker room were panicking.

They noticed how the boy's face flushed a little then began to grow more intense after backing away from Shinso; he leaned against the bench and just brought his knees up to his chest and brought his hands in front, but he didn't link them together. They started to panic when he started mumbling things very faintly; he even started clawing at his wrists to the point where he drew blood. There were some words you could make out, he was saying that he couldn't breathe and that he felt hot and dizzy. He also questioned why he was the only one who seemed to be affected by this 'illness' that he had.

Deku reacted very badly to physical contact; Bakugo had tried to give him a hug to calm him down but the greenette just whimpered as he flinched back and now it was obvious he was struggling for air. He started breathing raggedly as he rasped out, "...stop.....don't....hurt......can't....breathe...." he was on his knees as he pressed down on the ground with his palms. He started counting in his head as sweat trickled down his face.

Deku knew he shouldn't be doing this. This shouldn't be happening. Now he remembered what this was. He used to have these during training sometimes and Shinohara would sometimes yell at him or kick him, telling him to get up or keep going. Though, the greenette realized those things made it worse. When Shinohara did figure out what it was, he would have to step out of the room until Deku was finished; Deku would receive harsh training afterwards though. That was actually the main reason Shinohara sold him, at least, that's what the greenette speculated. He would always have a disgusted look on his face whenever Deku slipped into one of his panic attacks. The greenette would notice, but he never commented on it.

His mind cleared up as his vision readjusted. He continued to count in his head like he usually did whenever this happens; it took a lot of focus to do it but he did. The only way he could do it though is if he looked at his hands and counted along with his fingers. He slowed down his breathing as he felt the tightness in his chest slowly start to dissipate. He noticed the blood trickling down from a wound on his wrist but he ignored it for now. He touched around his eyes for any tears, remembering the note he had written for himself a while ago: 𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕣𝕪.

Thankfully for him, he wasn't. Deku sat up so his arms were on his sides, away from his uniform. He was sitting on his legs so his knees were on the floor, so he repositioned himself to where he was just sitting on the floor with his legs sprawled out in front of him. He looked up to see Aizawa; the other boys weren't there because Aizawa said that Deku wouldn't want to see so many people when he came to.

Mr. Aizawa was a pretty good hero in Deku's book; he gave Eri a place to stay as well as himself for a short while. The pro hero had shown him what normal teenagers(according to Aizawa's standards) wear clothing wise. He even bought him the red shoes that Deku likes to wear. The black haired male was aloof but that was fine for Deku; Shinohara, the people at the league, and even people at the Yakuza were practically breathing down his neck when he was there. But with Aizawa, the guy couldn't give two flying shits about what Deku was doing, as long as it didn't hurt anyone, including himself. And since he was at the dorms now, there was even more...freedom? Though, Deku sometimes got bored in his room so he would just train.

He met eyes with Aizawa and stood up quickly; he wasn't expecting him to be there. The hero's eyes trailed over the huge scar on the boy's arm, but there was also a big one across his chest as well. Aizawa was still crouched down hut snapped out of it to see the boy not in front of him anymore. Deku had placed the top of his gym uniform on. His face was no longer flushed since he took a good five or so minutes to calm himself down. He had to wipe the sweat off of his face and just looked to his arms. Maybe he could ask Yaoyorozu to make him a bandage or two? He placed his school top in the locker and shut it, only to turn around and see Aizawa a few feet away with his arms crossed.

"I can-"

"No. You're sitting out for a little bit," Aizawa interrupted Deku before the greenette could get a full sentence out. The freckled teen just nodded in agreement before following Aizawa to go see if Yaoyorozu could make bandages. The others were allowed back in the locker room afterwards.

* * *

It was about halfway through training and Deku sighed as he sat on the bench.

Aizawa hadn't let him train. Maybe he forgot about him? The greenette went around and looked for Bakugo or maybe Iida. Instead, he found Todoroki. He watched the dual haired teen use his ice and Deku frowned a little when the taller boy refused to use his left side. So the freckled teen went up to him, making Todoroki stop in his tracks.

Everyone was training individually so it shouldn't be a problem for other students. Deku was quite the distraction anyways, but what he did next drew a lot of people's attention to him. "Todoroki? Why aren't you using your fire that much?" He questioned. The dual haired teen was partially using his fire side but not that much.

The heterochromatic eyed boy glanced off to the side, "I don't like using it. Remember I told you it reminded me of my father? I don't like using the flames."

The greenette stood there quizzically. "Todoroki hold your palm out and make a fire," The freckled teen instructed. Todoroki hesitantly made a small fire in his palm, the amber hues and crimson hues clashing together wonderfully. Deku held out his own hand and touched the fire, burning his hand. He grimaced but explained as he showed the boy his burned hand, "They're your flames. Not anybody elses. Even with a fire quirk, I was able to be burned by them. Watch." He held out his non burnt hand and created his own flame; the flame was red and then a split second later it flared up into a smoky purple. He put out the fire and showed Todoroki his uninsured left hand and compared it to the burned right hand.

"See? The only reason why I was burned was because those are _your_ flames. Not mine, not anyone else's. Just yours. The only reason I was burned during the training was because I was hit with your flames but manipulated them into my own. Obviously the purple flames are hotter but I was still burned because they weren't my flames," he implied. He looked up to Todoroki.

"I know it might sound bad but you can't be a hero if you're not willing to give it your all in training," the freckled teen stated as he flickered his eyes from his hands to Todoroki. The dual haired teen seemed to have small sparkles in his eyes and nodded as a small smile found its way onto his face.

The rest of the class was shocked; Deku didn't talk a lot, if even at all. But something made him help Todoroki. All Might smirked as he watched from afar. _The mind of a hero. Helping others when they are in need, even if it means going out of your way in order to do so_ , he thought. And with that, the blond had made his decision:

He was going to give his quirk to Deku.


	16. Right Before We Head to the Hellhole

"Deku."

The greenette had turned around to see a dual haired teen jogging up to him. The freckled teen readjusted the grip on his book bag once Todoroki caught up; the two began walking to the dorms as the heterochromatic eyed boy spoke up again. "I wanted to say thank you. You- I was hesitant to use my fire even after what you said in the alley during the fight with the hero killer, but I think I understand what you were getting at. It might take me time to readjust but I probably never would have considered changing if it weren't for you," The dual haired teen scratched the back of his neck as he felt it heat up.

The greenette's enourmous emerald orbs focused on the dual haired teen as he listened, before nodding to acknowledge what was just said. Deku looked down at his previously burnt hand, which was now fixed thanks to Recovery Girl. Though, that didn't make his situation any better; he was already tired before, even though he wouldn't admit it, and now with Recovery Girl's quirk, he felt even more drained. It took a lot in him just to focus on what Todoroki was saying but he still nodded his head along as he walked next to the taller boy. Deku didn't even notice the pole in front of him.

His face smashed into the pole as he fell back, feeling himself hit the pavement when he fell down. His nose felt numb as he felt a warm liquid fall down his face. The greenette hesitantly touched his face as he felt the warm liquid, pulling his hand back to see a crimson color he was oh so familiar with. He tried to stand up but felt the world spin around him, his vision was slightly blurry.

Todoroki immediately noticed the greenette fall and crouched down to see the damage Deku had done to his face. The dual haired teen's eyes widened as he noticed ~~_nose_ -iced~~ the blood gushing out of the greenette's nose.

He rummaged through his book bag before finding a tissue and holding it up to the greenette's face. Deku's dull eyes trailed up to meet Todoroki's heterochromatic eyes. The dual haired teen froze as his heart skipped a beat. He quickly pushed it away. "Do you need help getting up?" Todoroki asked as Deku held the tissue to his face. The greenette really seemed to be out of it.

The freckled teen shook his head as he tried to stand up, but he just stumbled back and fell once more. Todoroki sighed as he crouched down next to Deku again. "Here, let me take your book bag and see if you can walk that way," he suggested. The dual haired teen knew that Deku didn't like getting help, so he offered to carry the greenette's book bag. It took a second before the freckled teen allowed that to happen; he reluctantly slid his book bag off as Todoroki hauled it over his shoulders.

Deku attempted to get up again but couldn't. "Deku, I think it's because you're tired. You seemed really tired during school. I could carry you back if you want?" Todoroki questioned the last sentence instead of stating it, unsure of how Deku would react. He already knew that the greenette didn't do that well with physical contact so maybe the question wasn't a good idea.

The greenette looked to the ground as he thought. Well he didn't really like getting help but he knew that he couldn't get up by himself. Plus, Todoroki offered to carry him and right now Deku was wasting both of their time. The freckled teen nodded his head slightly, still hesitant about his decision. He felt an arm go under his back and his legs as he tensed up. Todoroki waited a second as he looked at Deku, "Are you sure you're alright with this?" The greenette closed his eyes as he nodded his head yes, still covering his nose with the tissue. He felt himself being lifted off of the ground and knew that Todoroki had already started moving.

The dual haired teen walked for a bit until he felt Deku slipping, so he jolted the boy up a bit to make sure the greenette wouldn't fall. Todoroki felt a thump and glanced down to see Deku with his eyes closed, leaning towards Todoroki's chest. The taller boy felt like his left side was going to burst into flames but he ignored it as he glanced back up, seeing they were almost at the dorms. Though, Todoroki couldn't tell if the boy was sleeping or not.

The dual haired teen walked into the dorms, a few people were there already, lounging around. While the others either didn't arrive yet or were just in their rooms. The Bakusquad was there and Kaminari almost immediately sat up when he noticed the greenette laying in Todoroki's arms. The golden eyed blond pointed at Deku as he looked at the dual haired teen, "How did you do that?"

Todoroki looked down and noticed Deku hadn't opened his eyes upon hearing the commotion, so he guessed the greenette fell asleep. The dual haired teen shrugged as he went to the elevator, not wanting to answer any questions people might have.

But of course Bakugo had to get in the way.

"Where are you taking him?" The ash blond sneered as he glared at the dual haired teen in front of him. Todoroki tried walking around the boy but that didn't work; Bakugo just stepped in the way again.

The boy's heterochromatic eyes scan the ash blond before giving up and sighing. "He wasn't paying attention and rammed his face into a pole on the way here. He couldn't get up so I offered to take him here. He fell asleep on the way so I would appreciate if you moved aside," he explained. Bakugo seemed to think for a second before he replied.

"Well let me take him. He's most comfortable around me anyways so get lost half and half," the ash blond grumbled as he held his arms out.

"And what if he wakes up? He's going to be startled if the last thing he remembers is me carrying him. Besides I-"

Deku started moving in Todoroki's arms as he mumbled a small, "Todoroki's warm...". He placed his head in between the dual haired teen's torso and arm. Todoroki looked up to Bakugo and gave him a smug look, "Well I guess it looks like he wants to be by me anyways. Move. I have to see what's wrong with his nose." Bakugo was left stunned, allowing Todoroki enough time to pass.

Todoroki went to the elevator and felt Deku slipping again, so he readjusted him as the elevator door closed. Though, the teen's hand slipped and instead of gripping the spot underneath Deku's knee, his hand fell to the greenette's thigh; which was...oddly squishy? Todoroki looked down and noted that it was the freckled teen's thigh. _What the fuck? Why is he so..._ Todoroki snapped out of it and placed his hand in a more appropriate spot, underneath knee. Todoroki was glad that no one was around to witness that, but he also had to calm himself down.

Eventually the elevator dinged as they arrived on Deku's floor. Todoroki's face was still a light pink but he had stepped out of the elevator and opened the door to Deku's room, noticing a bunch of weights and things scattered around the room. _Is this why he doesn't leave his room?_ The dual haired teen looked around before spotting the bed, silently walking over to it as he set the greenette down. Afterwards, he placed the book bag down in the place he found most fit for the item. Todoroki knelt down by the bed as he grabbed another tissue from his bag, along with a small box that had things like bandaids and little alcohol wipes.

Todoroki tore one of the wipes open as he removed Deku's hand away from his face; the freckled teen still held the tissue to his nose on the way to the dorms. The dual haired teen quickly disposed of the bloody tissue as he carefully wiped the, now dried, blood off of Deku's face. After closer inspection, Todoroki knew it wasn't bad, Deku probably just got a bloody nose from the impact, nothing was broken. The heterochromatic eyed boy took the time to study Deku's face; the boy's lips were slightly parted because he was unable to breathe through his nose and there was a substantial amount of freckles that covered the boy's face.

Todoroki silently began to count them as he stared at the curly haired teen. He didn't get that far considering the door opened, alerting him of Bakugo's presence. The teen's heterochromatic eyes narrowed as he looked into the other teen's crimson red ones. "Fine fine. He's fixed up now so why don't we both leave him alone?" Todoroki huffed as he stood up. Bakugo eyed him before rolling his eyes and facing the door, walking out and looking back to see if Todoroki followed. The dual haired teen walked out as he closed the door behind him. The two didn't speak as they walked away from each other, in opposite directions.

* * *

Deku made his way down to the common room with an outfit Aizawa had picked for him. It had been two weeks since he started training to be a hero, meaning it had been roughly a month since he was rescued. Once he had stepped foot into the common room, he was pulled aside. He still wasn't used to random contact but he relaxed once he saw who it was.

"What is this?" Bakugo asked as he gestured towards the boy's outfit. The greenette had looked up; his blank face wasn't as present as it was before since he's gotten better with expressing himself.

"This is the outfit Mr. Aizawa had gotten me..." he started. The ash blond shook his head as he grabbed the boy's wrist and led him to the elevator; they arrived at Deku's room and Bakugo began to sift through the clothes, looking for anything that would be fine for the freckled teen to wear. Though Bakugo couldn't find anything; Aizawa had a terrible fashion sense.

Deku just sat on his bed, messing with one of the weights until Bakugo motioned him over. The greenette dropped the weight on the bed but he was then dragged by Bakugo to the ash blond's room. Bakugo went through his own closet before taking out a few items: a white v-neck, a dark red sweater, and some black jeans that were a bit ripped. The ash blond tossed it to Deku and told him to change while he waited outside.

The greenette peeked his head out of the room after a minute and quietly called out, "Kacchan...the pants don't fit." The ash blond gave a confused look as he stepped into the room, thinking the greenette probably just needed a belt; Bakugo's pants were probably too loose on the short boy. The boy's crimson eyes landed on Deku, who only hand the pants up to his hips, where they stopped.

Well this was...interesting.

Is that why Deku always wore loose clothes? Bakugo's face tinted a slight pink but he shook his head and went to the dresser and quickly tossed the freckled teen baggy black joggers. The ash blond quickly walked out of the room and leaned against the wall; he was very confused about his sexuality at this point.

Deku walked out a few moments later with his red shoes on as well. It went really well with the outfit somehow. The two went downstairs when Bakugo got ready and grabbed a few things off his dresser from the room. They were about to make it out of the room when someone asked the two where they were going. Bakugo was hesitant to answer, but he mentioned they were going to the mall to go shopping.

**"CAN WE GO TOO?"**

Said literally everyone in Class 1-A.

Deku nodded slightly, not looking to see if the ash blond was interested in others going. The greenette thought that the ash blond wouldn't mind, the boy's friends wanted to go, after all. Meanwhile, Bakugo was practically overflowing with anger. If he was being honest, Deku was probably one of the only ones he could be around without completely loosing it. But here the whole class was, getting ready to go to the mall with them....

Yippie....


	17. Trying to be Normal

"Why did you make him wear that? His clothes are way too baggy," Kirishima whispered to Bakugo; he couldn't say it out loud since Deku was standing on the opposite side of the ash blond.

Bakugo gave the redhead a glare and was going to say something until a certain brunette called the greenette over to her group. Deku looked at Bakugo and nodded his head over in question, in which Bakugo just shrugged. The freckled teen just nodded back as he strolled over to the group. Kirishima watched as the greenette went back, his eyes trailing downwards until the realization hit him.

His face tinted a light pink before his mouth made an 'o' shape. "...that uh- that explains why Mineta took a liking to him." The two watched as Deku's hips swayed unintentionally as he walked, which didn't help the fact that both boys' faces were already heating up.

"What are you guys..." Kaminari stopped to find his friends' eyes set on a certain someone. "Damn..." the blond paused and thought for a moment, "What do you think he would look like in skinny jeans?" Kaminari said out loud, earning him a wack on the head.

"Stop acting like a perv," Sero sighed as he walked up from behind the four. Kaminari held his hands on his head as he whined at the black haired teen that was now standing next to him.

"Me? Didn't you see those two over there ogling Deku's ass?" He pointed at Kirishima and Bakugo who were having a 'conversation' (more like Bakugo yelling at Kirishima). The shorter blond complained, "Sero I swear they were."

"Uh huh, sure," The black haired male replied as he looked over to see Deku in the middle of his friend group. Iida seemed to be chatting with Todoroki and Uraraka and Asui were chatting with each other as well; Deku seemed to be listening as he walked in front of them. The greenette was listening until he heard yelling, making him freeze up and allowing Todoroki and Iida to accidentally bump into him.

The others seemed to notice this as well. The class stopped walking, well most of the class stopped, and looked to the freckled teen to see him slightly shaking, not even bothering to move from where he was leaning against both Iida and Todoroki. His emerald eyes darted around to see Bakugo still yelling at Kirishima. The greenette hated when people raised their voice; he almost lost it just by being in the cafeteria that one time. Just hearing Bakugo he'll that much with that much anger and venom in his voice....

_" **GET UP YOU USELESS CHILD! You're so fucking weak! I would probably kill you if I hadn't already wasted years to train you** ," Shinohara snarled as he kicked the already beaten boy on the ground. The greenette groaned as his weak body laid on the cold flooring. He felt like he just wanted to stay there and sleep. Hell, anything is as comfy as a bed when you're tired as fuck._

_The greenette had let out a shaky breath; he had already trained for hours, so shouldn't that be enough? Well, apparently it wasn't enough for the white haired male in front of him; his charcoal black eyes bore holes into the small boy. The boy was around three or four at the time, though he couldn't remember exactly how old he was._

_He was kicked again as the man screamed at him to get up. After having enough of Deku's incapability to stand back up properly, the white haired hero hand held out his hand. He started levitating a sharp piece of metal near himself as he crouched down near the boy that was basically beaten to a pulp. " **Guess I have to give you a little reminder to make sure you know not to refuse my orders** ," the man growled as he held the object in his hand._

_A sadistic grin made its way onto the man's face as he began to say in a singsong type of voice, " **Where at, where at?** " He slipped the greenette's shirt off as he noticed the mix of yellow, blue, purple, and pink blotches covering the boy's once milky white skin. " **How about...** " he pretended to think as the greenette tried to keep his composure while the man eyed him. " **Here,** " the man smirked as he brought the piece across the boy's chest; Deku bit his lip as he held back a scream, already knowing that it could get him in trouble._

_The freckled boy's heart pounded against his chest as he panicked, not knowing what he should do in this situation. More sweat trickled down his face as he scratched at the floorboards, trying to suppress his screams. He felt a familiar warmth trickle down his chest as he opened his eyes, noticing a familiar crimson color as well. He felt the liquid flow out of him as he was left there, on the cold floor as he had the urge to close his eyes. Just for a short while he told himself, though the next time he woke up was in a small pool of his own blood._

Deku slumped to the ground, startling the others. He held his chest and bit his lip, noticing that the yelling had stopped. _It's fine they won't hurt me...but what if they're getting fed up with this weird thing that keeps happening to me?_ He paused as he blinked, trying to get himself to focus again. He shook his head as he noticed the sidewalk beneath him. The greenette's eyes flickered up to see two people in front of him; heterochromatic gray and turquoise eyes along with a pair of navy blue eyes looked at him with concern and worry. Though, Deku took those looks as looks of pity, ones that he didn't need.

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly as he looked off to the side. He huffed as he slowly stood up, a defeated look in his eyes. Someone had stepped forwards hesitantly, "Are you-"

"I'm fine," The greenette interrupted as he fiddled with his fingers; it was a bad habit that he had done whenever he got nervous. Though, he would rarely do it since...well Shinohara said he wasn't supposed to. But that man wasn't here right now...so why was Deku still cautious about everything he had done? Maybe it was because those things had just been drilled into his brain so much that if he had slipped, he felt like it would be the end of the world.

He felt the gaze of the stude- well, his classmates– on him, so he felt like he had to state why he had done what he did. "I- I...the yelling made me remember something...something bad..." he moved his hand up to his arm as he rubbed his right arm, another place that Shinohara had used to give Deku a reminder.

Deku definitely noticed when Iida made a sharp inhale. "Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry..." he mumbled as he looked down at his red sneakers. He noticed Iida and Todoroki stood up from where they were previously crouched down on the ground. The greenette turned his head to the side and brought his shoulders up; it was the only way you can tell the freckled teen was waiting for an impact of some sort, as his face remained blank. It even went back to its half lidded nature like before.

It took a second before he felt someone's hands on him. His face was redirected towards someone as opposed to the ground; his eyes met charcoal black ones, making him flinch back a bit. Though, he quickly realized the pair of eyes weren't cold and judgmental like Shinohara's. No. These eyes were...different. He was still uncomfortable with the contact on his skin but he was also frozen still at the same time. The taller teen in front of him began to speak, "It's okay. You didn't do anything. It's just...well the place we were going to is loud and crowded. We really should've thought things through. We apologize since we forgot you didn't like places similar to the cafeteria in the first place." Deku's eyes widened and his eyebrows perked upwards in worry.

His eyes flickered to the side as he held a small sad expression on his face, "I can still go. I'm sorry. I must be such an inconvenience..." The hands cupping his cheeks had moved on his face in order to redirect his attention to the girl in front of him. Yaoyorozu gave him a small smile.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," she suggested. The greenette shook his head.

"If I don't go then I won't get used to it," he murmured. Yaoyorozu smiled wider as she heard his explanation. She nodded and took her hands off of his face before the rest of the class continued on to the mall. Before they entered, Iida seemed to notice that the shorter teen near him appeared anxious but didn't say anything. The blue haired teen held his hand out to Deku.

"You can squeeze my hand if you get too nervous," he offered. The freckled teen hesitated before he put his smaller hand into Iida's larger one, immediately gripping it tightly. Now that Iida realized it, maybe it wasn't such a great idea. First of all he was getting a bit flustered and the class was glaring at him. Secondly, Deku actually had a really strong grip for such a small person.

The others were jealous but brushed it off as they looked for a place to go. Though, Deku was immediately beginning to regret his choice to tag along on this trip. He didn't have any money with him because he didn't want to bother Aizawa, the man was just his caretaker. Plus, the yelling and commotion in the mall wasn't helping. He felt a lump in his throat and something stinging his eyes. He let out a small noise as he turned his head to Iida's arm, putting his head to it as the rest of his body moved closer to the taller boy. He was frightened for the first time in a while and with the feeling being so unfamiliar to him, well that made him feel even worse.

Iida noticed the boy's sudden mood shift and guided him to a bench nearby. He sat down and so did Deku, just following the other boy's movements. The greenette focused on his breathing and made sure that stupid stinging in his eyes went away. Luckily for him it did.

Iida, on the other hand, could only sit there as the greenette clutched his arm tightly, only leaning his head against it and nothing else. The blue haired teen didn't want to do anything more than that for now; he already knew how badly Deku reacted to unwanted or sudden contact. After a minute or two, the freckled teen loosened his grip and scooted away from Iida, putting his head down and his hands in his lap. "I'm so useless... I'm just a Deku..." he mumbled, mostly to himself. Of course the greenette knew what it meant; Shinohara practically reminded him of it everyday. Iida heard the comment but stayed silent.

He took his hands out of his lap and clutched the edge of the bench, feeling that weird feeling in the pit of his stomach; he just wanted it to go away. He just wanted everything to go away: his worries, his problems, the weird sickness he seemed to have that only hurt him, and all these stupid _feelings_. It's like there was a burning in his chest and there was a constant hammering in his head. Though, he would have to brush it off like he often did. He would have to push everything in favor of completing his task. It would have to be the same with the class as it was with Eri.

He could suppress those thoughts and feelings for them, right?


	18. Trying New Things

Deku wondered around with the others, still uncomfortable with being in the noisy mall; he stopped holding Iida's hand but that didn't stop him from gripping the hem of the sweater he was wearing. He noted that it had smelled like caramel, like Bakugo. That helped soothe his nerves a little as they walked through the mall. Though, he was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed that he no longer felt Iida's or Todoroki's presence.

His eyes scanned the crowd of people yet he failed to recognize any of them. He struggled but managed to push the overwhelming amount of bad feelings that were beginning to stir up inside him. He exhaled as he focused on the crowd, searching for anyone in his class. He felt something bump against his leg as he panicked for a second, only to recognize the purple haired teen that had bumped into him.

Ok maybe Deku should've been careful when he said _anyone_ from his class.

The greenette noticed that Mineta had yet to detach himself from Deku's hip. That's when he felt something squeezed his thigh, the one closest to Mineta. Meanwhile, the purple perv was drooling over the freckled teen. Deku just stood there helplessly. Was this normal? Hell if Deku knew.

Deku was very uncomfortable, so when Mineta was immediately thrown to the ground a millisecond later? Well the greenette was more than grateful. His eyes trailed upwards to see Asui and Uraraka. The panic that was bubbling in his chest from before had started to dissipate once he noticed those two. Though it was odd, he didn't feel the same when he found Mineta.

The two girls rushed up to him, asking if he was okay. He nodded before glancing over and saw Mineta's face basically bashed against the hard mall floor. His eyes went back to the two as the brunette waved her hand in his face. Emerald eyes met ebony brown eyes; Uraraka felt herself getting lost in those eyes but brushed it off as she nervously led the greenette over to the clothes store where the rest of the girls were. The brunette tried to hide the growing blush on her face as she lightly dragged Deku along with her. Asui just observed Uraraka's actions, noting the way the brunette had reacted.

Deku kept pace with both of them; they were all practically the same height after all. Uraraka being the tallest out of the three, though that was only by an inch compared to Deku. The greenette noticed they were approaching a store and didn't think much of it until Asui mentioned clothes and shopping.

"No," Deku stopped halfway there as he gently pulled his wrist away from Uraraka's grasp, "I can't."

"Why not, ribbit?" Asui asked as he looked the boy up and down, only stopping a few feet in front of where he had stopped walking. The green haired girl tilted her head slightly as her large eyes scanned Deku's face for an answer.

The boy was hesitant to answer but one thought continued to repeat in his head:

"Ḍ̶̼̒̊̃̀͋ȍ̸͔͕̰ͅñ̴̨͕͉̗̱̜͉̪̹'̶̯͚̦̮̰̩̯͈̹̔̐̔̂ť̸̢͈̞̱̤̼͕̞̘̻͆̅ ̸̖̞͛̑̀͑ḁ̶͈͗́̎̑̈́͝͝s̵̹̜̼̼̔̇͝ḵ̸̰̫̞̏͆̉͐͊̈͝ ̸͉͉͙̻̀̈́̄̓͑f̷̧̣̜̣͈͈̗͈͗̋̄̀͂̔ͅõ̷̢̱͔̠̋͋̿̐̀̏r̵̢̩̜̩̠͘ͅ ̷̡̨͙͈͈͎̱̀̔̒t̸͖͓͓͖͇̬̠͉̾͑͌h̶̩͚̫̽͒̐̂͋̊i̶͎̪̙͈̮̟̥̓͊͗̆n̷̨̛̖̻̠̤̞̘̜͒̈́̈̋̽̒͋͂͝g̶̨͉̘̱͙͇͚̫̮̮͊͒̅̂̈́̋s̸͔̲̫͍̫̬̻̠̓̅̏̓̑̆͝ ̴͙̭̠̩̹͕̱̠̒͊y̸̛̮̎̀̐̑̒́̚õ̴̡̭̻̭̖͉̫͙͒̈̊̇̐͊̚u̸̘̻̾͑̀̀̂̐́̃͘ ̸̰̝̒̍́̈́̿̈́̇̀̚͘ͅŭ̵͉̘n̷̪̥̔̾͆͐͝g̵͎̑r̸̡͖̺͈͂ă̸̟̦͓͚̫͈̮̬̈́̾͌̚ͅt̸̞̙̰̐̆̌͜ȩ̵̙̦̙̱͉̿̇̈́͝f̵̧͎̻͔̳̦́̿̏̚͝ù̷̠̥̜̃͑͌̑̕̕͠͝l̵̨̛̛̦̺̙̰͈͖͚͔̜͂̌̌̍̍͘͝ ̴̤̓̀͐̅̋c̵̢̛͚͖̗̼̲͚̘͔̔͒̃͑̍̌̆̀͜h̴̛̞̬̲͚̻̬͉̎̌̃̊̏ͅi̶͔̍͂l̴̜̬̲͆̋̋̚d̸̲̮̝͓̥͈̜̦͔̄̊̕͠"

He shouldn't even be here at the mall. Why did Bakugo even suggest the idea? Deku didn't have any money. Besides, the greenette could work with the clothes Aizawa provided him. It felt wrong to ask for things which is why he never did. He didn't want to be selfish.

Who was he kidding?

He was already selfish; he wasted everyone's time whenever he was affected by his strange illness(just a note they're panic attacks but Deku isn't aware that that is what they're called).

"I don't-" he paused, "I'm fine with what I have right now." The greenette didn't know that the girls didn't know that the whole point of him coming here was to get clothes. The girls nodded in understanding but still asked him to come with; they didn't want him getting lost again. He agreed as the two dragged him to the girls' clothing store.

* * *

Deku already disliked this whole 'shopping' thing already.

At first he didn't know what it was but he went along with it since it was Bakugo's idea to take him. But once he had heard the two words 'clothes' and 'shopping' put together, Deku quickly figured out shopping was when you buy items. Though the greenette would've preferred if he went the rest of his days without discovering that word.

It had been an hour or two since he was dragged to a store by the girls. If he was being honest, he was both tired and hungry; he wouldn't say anything about it considering the girls were busy though. He felt the same empty feeling in his stomach like he always did when he was hungry. He ignored it as he felt someone tug his sweater.

He glanced up to see Ashido with a bunch of bags and things at hand, "Come on! We're gonna go to-" She was cut off by a little 'ding!' noise coming from her phone. "...the food court..." she finished as she stuffed her phone back in her pocket. Deku nodded and stood up to follow the pink skinned girl. Ashido stopped, catching Deku off guard before she walked behind him.

The greenette turned around as the girl smiled. "Well I don't want you getting lost again!" She explained with a nervous smile on her face. The greenette just nodded briefly as he looked around for any signs of a food court, which, he didn't know exactly what he was looking for; he's never been to a mall before. He felt someone usher him towards a certain direction. He tensed up and the hand retreated back to where it was. Deku turned around to see(well more like not see) Hagakure standing behind him.

"I'm sorry! I forgot about that!" She yelped and stepped back. The greenette relaxed and brushed it off without a word as he looked in the direction of the food court Jiro had pointed out. The seven of them had arrived at the food court, meeting with the boys of the class, well, besides Deku.

The girls had set their bags down where the rest of the class was at; they quickly began to pick out what they were going to order. The others watched as the freckled teen just made his way to an open seat as he slumped down in a chair, resting his head in his arms.

"What's wrong?" Tokoyami asked before putting his food in his mouth. The others at the table just looked to the greenette for an answer but never received one.

Bakugo spoke up, "Deku." The greenette sat up upon hearing that as he looked to the ash blond. "You didn't get any clothes," The ash blond observed before continuing, "Why not? And what about food? Aren't you hungry?"

Deku's face remained unchanged but you could see his arms gripping the sleeves of his sweater. "I...apologize. Me coming on this trip was pointless since I don't have any money," he stated nervously. The others looked at him.

"So why didn't you ask Aizawa...?" Shinso asked as he took the time to take in the boy's cuteness.

"Well he's just my caretaker....ungrateful children like me shouldn't ask for anything..." he mumbled the last part to himself, though the person to his left had perked up, forcing a piece of food in the greenette's mouth.

"Nonsense, mon ami! Someone as dazzling as yourself shouldn't be stuck with such plain clothes!" ("my friend!") The blond had exclaimed, though not too loud considering what had happened earlier. The girls had returned with their food and didn't fail to notice the face Deku had made when he was chewing the food Aoyama gave him. The freckled teen's eyes widened a little as he looked over to the blond's tray of food.

Sato laughed a bit from across the table, "Is it good?" The greenette looked up and nodded shyly as he looked down at the table. Meanwhile, Uraraka quietly told a group of students what Mineta had done, causing a loud and angry, "WHAT?" to come from Bakugo. Deku jumped up a bit in his seat as he stumbled back towards Tokoyami.

Deku realized what he had done and quickly pulled away from the bird boy, sitting up in his own seat. The greenette wrapped his arms around himself yet sat quietly with a blank expression adorning his face. The noise in the mall wasn't that loud, but for some reason the noises seemed to come back to Deku's ears ten times stronger. The greenette felt the noise pound his ears, making his head hurt like hell. He leaned forwards with his arms still wrapped around his stomach. He put his forehead to the table and felt that familiar burning feeling in his chest again.

The people talking about what happened with Deku and Mineta were oblivious to the fact that the greenette seemed to be feeling bad again. Though, the greenette snapped out of it sooner than expected as he stopped tensing up, relaxing in his seat with his forehead still to the table. That didn't mean that his head still didn't hurt, though. He clutched his stomach as it growled. That was until he heard something clank down in front of him. He lifted his head up a bit to see a hand pulling away from a tray of food.

The greenette's eyes trailed up to the owner of the hand that had set down his tray. His emerald orbs glanced up to meet heterochromatic blue and grey eyes, they were looking at him with...well Deku couldn't really detect what it was but he noted it looked different. "You need to eat," Todoroki stated as he eyed the freckled teen.

"I can't- I don't have any way to pay you back-" the greenette began. He was stopped when Todoroki simply shook his head, making the freckled boy clamp his mouth shut.

"You don't have to. Come on, you must be hungry and I don't think the rest of the class would let you leave here without eating," the dual haired teen replied. Deku stayed silent, confused about how well everyone was treating him. Usually he would have to sneak around to get food, or if he was given food like at the Yakuza, it didn't taste very good. He stared at the tray in front of him; the food looked really good but the greenette was hesitant to eat it. "I can get you something else," Todoroki offered.

The greenette shook his head as he looked back at the food, picking up a piece with his chopsticks hesitantly. Well, it's not like he was starved or anything, at least when he got older. He had to accumulate muscle mass somehow; he wouldn't be able to do so if he didn't eat healthy. Though, he was never given anything that tasted good, just this weird mixture that had all of the 'nutrients' and 'vitamins' that he needed.

He paused before popping a piece of the food in his mouth. His eyes lit up as he chewed the food; the rest of the class started to wonder how someone could look so cute when eating. Now they wondered how cute the greenette would look with a smile on his face.

Maybe if they pampered him enough then they might be able to squeeze out a little smile out of Deku.


	19. Clothes Shopping

Deku was more than confused.

He didn't understand why so many people were asking what he needed and what he wanted. He never got asked things like that before since he already knew what he had to do. But when people started to offer him all of this food? Well...he was a bit overwhelmed.

Luckily for him, Iida managed to get everyone to stop bothering him. He mentally thanked the blue haired teen before looking back down at the food Todoroki had gotten him. He really felt bad but he thought about what the dual haired teen had said before. He decided to just focus on eating his food. Unknown to him, a lot of his new classmates were stealing glances of him as he chewed on his food. They were just baffled. Why did he look so cute? It didn't even seem like he was trying either.

He glanced up a bit when someone coughed, only to see people looking at him with an emotion he couldn't identify. He swallowed his food and ducked his head, his eyes flickering back to his food, "Am I doing something wrong...?"

"You're distracting!" Kirishima blurted. Deku looked up with a tint of confusion plastered on his face, though, it wasn't much since he was still getting used to expressing himself.

"Gah! You mean you don't even know how adorable you're being right now?" Uraraka questioned as she looked towards the greenette. Everyone noticed how Deku lowered his head even more at the unknown word the brunette had used.

"Is adorable an insult...?" He mumbled mostly to himself.

Ojiro perked up from the other side of Aoyama, "No no. It means...." The blond's face tinted a pink color, not wanting to be the one to openly call a boy cute. Sure he knew that Deku was indeed very cute, but how would his classmates react to that? Well, he just said screw it and continued anyways, "...it means cute."

Seeing as there was no reaction from Deku, Yaoyorozu decided to add on, "It's like saying you look appealing and good." Now that, Deku understood.

The greenette looked up a bit, "Is that why I'm distracting? Why would I be? Everyone else is adorable too...at least I think so...."

The class' hearts squeezed.

Thankfully, the class was able to distract themselves with a different conversation.

* * *

"Oh oh! What about this?" One of the girls held out a girly outfit; Iida quickly turned it down saying it wasn't a good choice.

Currently, part of the class was helping Deku look for outfits. The greenette just sat on the bench, slumped over as he tried to stay up. Though, everyone else didn't notice the boy's tired state; they were too busy picking out outfits for Deku to try on.

The greenette looked up when he was called. There was a huge pile of clothes that someone gestured to. "We want you to try these on!" Ashido exclaimed as she balled up her fists in excitement. Deku looked at the pile and noted the different clothes, light and desk bright and dull. He took a second before agreeing.

And that's when the 'fashion show' began. Though, Deku was the only model participating in this little fashion show.

There were a couple of outfits that some of the girls and _maybe_ some of the boys secretly slipped into the pile. Some of those included sweatshirts that were way too big on the greenette, others were skirts and girly things, which, Deku didn't mind but he would prefer if he didn't wear them. There were a couple that were fine and that he liked so the class added those to the good pile.

Though the class definitely noticed the bunny outfit in the pile; they quickly took it off and glared daggers at Mineta. On the other hand, the class failed to notice the other two not-so-good outfits curtesy of Kaminari and Mineta.

Deku hesitated as he looked down at the next outfit. He was in the changing room; he didn't want to call for anyone and bother them so he hesitantly slipped the outfit, making sure it looked decent. Decent in the way that he thought it was supposed to look anyways. But...he thought the outfit was a bit too small and the other part was too tight on his thighs. He fiddled with the outfit a little more before someone asked if he was fine. He responded with a yes after a short pause, unsure if he should step out looking the way he did. Though, his classmates helped pick this outfit for him so he shouldn't worry about it, right?

He stepped out of the stall.

There was a thump on the ground; Mineta fainted from a nosebleed(anime logic. No one cares about the purple pervert anyways).

The others' faces heated up and Bakugo turned to the class. "Oi who the fuck was the blind bitch that didn't see the maid outfit in the pile?" Some of the class shrugged while others were just looking Deku over. The greenette had a black maid outfit that was short but poofy at the bottom. He had thigh high stockings and small black flats to go with it.

The class was silent and Deku wanted to ask if something was wrong; Shouji quickly ushered the freckled teen back into the changing room, telling him that he should pick a different outfit from the pile. "Well uh...I know I shouldn't say this but _fuck_ he was cute in that outfit," Kaminari said to no one in particular.

Others mentally agreed, not wanting to actually express their agreement out loud. Eventually Deku tried on most of the outfits. Though, there was another one in the pile that wasn't 'appropriate' either; it was a crop top with very skinny, skinny jeans. Which, wasn't good for the class considering Deku's...body type.

After the rest of the outfits were tried on, the class went to pick out more. Well, most of the class; some snuck away to deal with Mineta...and maybe Kaminari because he was found out to be involved in things.

Deku sighed as he sat on the bench; he struggled to keep his eyes opened as he yawned. Sero, who was next to him, was about to say something until Deku started falling forwards off of the bench. The black haired teen was quick to grab hold of the freckled teen. The greenette was startled awake as he felt someone grab both of his arms. He flinched away and stumbled back a bit before recollecting himself.

"Sorry," he mumbled at he sat upright on the bench. Sero waved the apology off and instead asked if the greenette was tired. The freckled teen nodded his head yes.

"Why didn't you say something before? I- um- I can carry you if you want. You look like you need to sleep anyways," the ravenette offered. Deku didn't really want to; he felt like he was already being too much of a bother. He shook his head as Sero sighed and nodded, but the black haired teen stood up and walked off somewhere while Deku just leaned against the bench.

Of course Sero wouldn't just let that slide.

He walked over to a couple of classmates and told him that they should be heading back since Deku was tired.

"Really? You're going to let him ruin all of the fun? What about all the hot babes here?" Mineta eyed Sero suspiciously. Though, the grape boy just earned a wack on the head and a scolding from Iida.

"Well technically it is our job as a class to take care of him. Not as his classmates but with him being rescued from the villains and such. We have to make sure we show him that we care for him and that means that we have to make sure he is taking care of himself as well..." Iida went on about stuff like that while Bakugo went over to the bench that Deku was at.

* * *

"Ooh~ Is that blush I see, Bakugo?" Ashido teased as the ash blond carried the greenette on the way back. Bakugo clicked his tongue and the pink skinned teen pouted, not receiving an answer. She thought for a second before bouncing up and down as she moved forwards, "Ooh ooh! I know what we can do! How about we play truth or dare when we get back? Or maybe a movie night when Deku wakes up! Cause you know- he's probably never done anything normal like that before!"

Some of the class hesitated; just being with the rest of the class for this long kind of drained them. A couple of the students just didn't like social situations all that much. But if it meant being able to see Deku try out different things, then they guessed that it would be alright.

The greenette lay asleep in Bakugo's arms; some couldn't help but steal glances of him while he was sleeping. He just looked so peaceful, so relaxed compared to when he was awake. Deku had groaned a little, gaining some people's attention. Though, all he did was shift around before slightly nuzzling into Bakugo. The ash blond chewed the inside of his mouth as he continued walking forwards.

When the class arrived at the dorms, people started getting snacks and coming up with movies to watch, along with setting up the common room. Bakugo lead the way to Deku's room as a couple of others followed; they were carrying bags full of clothes for the greenette to wear. Though, with the Bakusquad, of course they're bound to mess something up.

And that's exactly what they did.

The others had set the bags down on he bed. You know, where Bakugo was _going_ to set Deku down on. But Kaminari tripped over something, resulting in him bumping in to Ashido in which she then bumped into a small dresser, knocking it down. All of the commotion seemed to wake Deku up. The greenette struggled in the ash blond's grasp but Bakugo's immediate reaction was to hold on tighter.

Deku turned to push away the thing keeping him until he heard the thing speak, "Hey hey it's fine. It's just me." The greenette stopped and looked up to meet crimson eyes. He relaxed slightly when he noticed it was Bakugo; his eyes flickered over to observe the rest of his surroundings. He noticed Kaminari, Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero. Jiro didn't tag along because she had to help Yaoyorozu with something. "Do you want me to let you down?" Bakugo asked in a not-yelling voice, surprising his classmates.

Deku just gripped onto Bakugo, it was like a silent no but the greenette nodded his head yes. "I don't care if you want to or not. You aren't that hard to carry," the ash blond muttered. The freckled teen didn't respond, leaving Bakugo to assume the greenette still wanted to be carried.

The ash blond headed out of the room but not before telling his classmates to pick up the mess they made. Well- Kaminari and Ashido had to pick up after themselves though the other two stayed behind to help their friends.

Bakugo went down the hallway and stepped into the elevator, asking Deku to push the button to take them to the common room since his hands were being occupied by the greenette. The taller boy took note of how the freckled teen's eyes lit up in wonder as the numbers glowed and there was a dinging noise. Had Deku not been on the elevator before? So that must mean that he's been using the fire escape this whole time.

The curly haired boy clutched onto Bakugo as the elevator started moving downwards. "It's just moving down don't worry," he briefly explained as he paused, "Why'd you want me to carry you?"

Deku pressed his lips into a thin line before looking up to meet the other's eyes, "It's cold but Kacchan's warm."


	20. New Feelings, Old Thoughts

Deku was given surprised looks after he had answered a question. Which, made him self conscious. Did he do something wrong? Maybe he answered the question incorrectly? He shifted in his spot on the floor and subconsciously moved closer to the ash blond next to him. He ducked his head down a little as he pressed his lips into a thin line. "Is there something wrong with that...?" He asked as his eyes flickered upwards.

"Oh my gosh you don't know anything!" Kaminari exclaimed, astonished.

"I'm sorry..." Deku muttered, thinking it was a bad thing.

"Oh shut up dunce face. It's not his fault he grew up the way he did. I still think you're dumber than everyone here," The ash blond sneered, "I bet you keep a fu- a ruler under your pillow so you know how long you've slept."

Kaminari's face tinted a pink at the remark, embarrassed when everyone started laughing and snickering. "It was only one time..." Apparently Ashido heard and started laughing even more, yelling the rest of the class what he had said.

Deku, on the other hand, still wasn't used to the whole laughing thing; he still had bad memories with it. So, he scooted behind Bakugo, away from everyone else's line of sight since the class was sitting in a circle.

He heard someone call for him and looked up to see crimson red orbs that matched their red hair. Kirishima gave a small smile, "Are you okay?" The greenette nodded when he heard the laughter dying down. His eyes flickered to the side before looking over.

"But...what's candy?" He asked, wondering why the class was so shocked when he claimed he didn't know what it was.

"Well I'm not sure if you want to try it but it's like sweet food," Kirishima struggled to explain. How does one explain what candy is? Bakugo turned to face the greenette in which Deku asked the ash blond something no one really expected.

"Can Kacchan carry me, again? ...please?" He mustered out in a small whisper. Kirishima eyed Bakugo as the ash blond went to answer. Though, the blond asked a question instead.

"You're cold again? Maybe you're-"

Kirishima cut him off, "Todoroki has a fire quirk. If you're cold then I think it would be better if you went to him." With the mention of Deku being cold, Yaoyorozu snuck off to make a really soft, fuzzy, and warm blanket. Todoroki, meanwhile, appeared from the other side of Bakugo; their conversation could be heard since everyone went quiet when they realized they might have scared Deku.

The dual haired teen sat next to the greenette, making sure his left side was near the freckled boy. Deku looked over to see heterochromatic eyes looking back at him. Todoroki felt his eyes soften when looking at the teen. And Todoroki just wanted to hold this freckled teen in his arms until they both fell asleep. The dual haired teen had an idea of what Deku went through after all. By the looks of it, Deku probably had been through hell and back. Yet, the greenette was somehow afraid more than anything. Either that was a sign that Todoroki was strong for being able to keep a straight face even when he was scared, or that the dual haired teen was never pushed past his breaking point like Deku most likely was.

Todoroki held his arms out for a hug but Deku looked at the other with a confused look on his face. Bakugo seemed to notice the freckled teen's confusion as his own face went to one of jealousy to slight pity. "Deku..." The ash blond said slowly. The dual haired teen put his arms down to the side as the rest of the class listened in. "..you- you _do_ know what a hug is, right? You've been hugged before?" The freckled teen seemed cautious and suspicious as he slowly shook his head no.

And there goes peoples' hearts shattering.

Todoroki paused. He looked at the greenette, wondering how the freckled teen even lasted this long. Now he knew that Deku probably went through more than just hell and back.

The dual haired teen began, "I could show you...?" Deku seemed hesitant, not knowing if a hug was harmful or not. Todoroki looked to Bakugo, giving him a look. The ash blond scoffed when he realized what the dual haired teen wanted to do. Kirishima seemed to notice as well so he moved over to Todoroki.

Deku watched as the two got close and made a weird gesture. That's when he remembered Eri did the same thing to himself when he was rescued. "See? It isn't anything bad," Todoroki pointed out as he pulled away from Kirishima. Sure, the hug was awkward, but they needed to show Deku that it was fine.

The greenette nodded when Todoroki asked if he wanted a hug. Though, Deku was hesitant since he wasn't paying attention to the steps on how to do a 'hug'. Thankfully for him, Todoroki did everything. The dual haired teen brought the smaller one into a semi-tight embrace.

The greenette liked it. He felt...secured? Was that the word? Deku didn't really know but he felt something...a good feeling for once. He really liked how Todoroki was warm, too. Well, at least on the left side. So, Deku went closer to that side. The freckled teen just held onto the other's shirt as he had arms wrapped around him.

Deku's eyes started to flutter; he liked the warmth. It was much different than the warmth he was used to: crimson red blood falling and sometimes warm bile making its way up his throat after gruesome training. Todoroki felt the boy relax in his grip, making the taller boy's heart flutter at the accomplishment and how it showed that Deku felt safe around him.

Todoroki pulled away and looked up to see Yaoyorozu with a blanket. He backed away from Deku as the freckled teen looked up a little bit to see the charcoal haired girl with a huge blanket at hand. The greenette was quite surprised when Yaoyorozu went and wrapped the huge blanket around him. He looked up at her and thanked her as he tightened his grip on the warm blanket.

"Ooh!" Ashido called out as everyone went back to their seats in the circle. Though, Deku ended up leaning against Todoroki's left side once he got permission to do so. "What if we play truth or dare?"

"Truth or dare?" Deku questioned under his breath. Ashido looked over to him and began to explain everything. All of the rules and stuff. He nodded when he got the gist of how to play it. Though, others went first so he could see how the game went.

It was Mineta's turned and of course he asked Deku for something. The greenette paused before trying dare, wanting to complete the task he was supposed to be given. "Ok! I dare you to wear short shorts and a huge shirt!" The disgusting demon of a child spoke excitedly. The others, well the others didn't take it that well.

The purple midget ended up being taped to the ceiling; there was duct tape over his mouth as well.

Deku was about to question it until someone else told him he didn't have to do the dare. Though, Deku insisted on receiving a dare from someone so he could, 'play fairly'. Uraraka sat up at the statement as she went over to the fridge and freezer. Everyone watched her as she came back with a small container and a spoon.

She popped off the lid as she dug the spoon into the container. "Here have some of this," she held out the spoon for Deku to take. Though, she didn't expect him to just eat it off the spoon while she held it. The class watched as Deku's eyes lit up a little, just like when he had the food back at the mall.

The greenette covered his mouth as he looked to the brunette. "Is it supposed to be cold?" He looked up at her as she held the container. Inside that container was ice cream. She nodded as he held out the little tub and spoon. It wasn't a huge tub of ice cream so she offered the rest to him, which, he gladly took, claiming that it tasted 'yummy' as Eri would say.

Though, he regretted it a little for two reasons. One being that he was already cold and two being the fact that he himself had a fire quirk. Meaning that the ice cream started to melt faster than it usually should've. Time went by as he ate his ice cream, not really focused on what was going on around him.

He looked up when he was done with the ice cream; the ash blond next to him let out a small snicker. Which, Deku knew was a form of laughing but it didn't bother him all that much since Shinohara's laughter sounded...louder. The greenette looked over as Bakugo spoke, "You must've liked that ice cream. You ate the whole container even if you were cold." Deku frowned a little before Bakugo offered to take the empty container. The greenette complied as he directed his attention back to the group, who, was trying to figure out how to get Mineta back down; he had been up there for a while.

Todoroki felt bad but he said he needed Deku to stop leaning on him so the dual haired teen could use the restroom. The greenette complied as Shinso went over to keep him company seeing as though Bakugo and Todoroki, AKA basically Deku's guard dogs, were nowhere in sight.

Deku wasn't really sure what to say. He hadn't really been around Shinso as much, after all. "Do you like it here so far?" The purple haired teen asked. Deku nodded as he thought of how much nicer everyone here compared to with Shinohara, the Yakuza, and the league.

Speaking of the league...would they still be after him? What would they do next time they met? What would _Deku_ do when they met? Would the league try to kill him on the spot or would they try to take him in again? One issue he had with the league is their connection with Shinohara. If Shinohara had been working with them up until he was arrested, then why hadn't he gone to see Deku? The greenette was a part of the league, after all. It was obvious that that man either didn't know of Deku's connection with the league or just didn't bother to go see him.

It was probably the first option. If Shinohara just didn't bother to see Deku, well, obviously the man was would still offer up some information about the greenette's weaknesses and such. The league didn't even know that Deku had a quirk, after all.

But what about now?

What if the league found out about his quirk? Would they want to keep him then? So he could be useful to them?

His stomach churned at the thought.

He just hated being used. He hated being thrown around from place to place: Shinohara's place to the Yakuza, the Yakuza to the League, and then the League to UA. He just wanted to be accepted somewhere. _Anywhere_. His own parents hadn't even accepted him. He was just left alone, _abandoned_ by him.

But that's just because he was useless, wasn't he?

Of course his parents didn't want him. He wasn't good enough. He isn't good enough. That's why he has the name Deku.

" ** _Deku. Deku. Deku. That's all you'll ever be. A useless, pathetic little weakling who can't get shit right_** ," the harsh voice rang through his mind as a picture flashed across his mind.

Deku always wondered where his mother was. Not his father though; he thought Shinohara was his father until recently. Though, after finding that out, he didn't even want to meet his actual parents. He didn't want them to be disgusted or disappointed in him.

His parents didn't want him in the first place, so why would they want him now?


	21. Something New

Truth or dare probably wasn't the best game to show Deku.

After a while, things started to get a little crazy, nonetheless, the game kept going. Deku was actually able to talk to Shinso for a little bit, and, in the greenette's opinion, he was a good person. Though, there conversation was quickly cut short when Bakugo then eventually Todoroki butted in; they didn't want anyone Deku was too unfamiliar with near him. Not yet, anyways. Especially since they, even after a month, still don't know exactly what is going on in the greenette's head. For the most part, everyone treated the freckled teen like a piece of glass, delicately incase he broke, which, no one really wanted.

Deku was currently wrapped in the huge, fuzzy blanket as he watched the rest of the class play the game. He had his back to Todoroki's left side, curled up next to the dual haired teen. Which, didn't help the heterochromatic eyed boy's already fast paced heart beats.

Before he knew it, Todoroki had placed his arm on top of the lump of white blanket. He retracted his hand quickly, realizing that it was Deku and he still wasn't used to sudden contact.

Deku flinched but looked up to Todoroki with his large emerald swirls. Scarred hands reached over hesitantly but retracted, realizing it probably wasn't a good idea; he might get yelled at. The dual haired teen noticed the small movement; he paused before laying his arm back down on the blanket Deku was wrapped up in.

The freckled teen just laid his head back down on the ground. Todoroki's heart squeezed, as well as some others that were watching. The greenette was having trouble keeping his eyes open yet he refused to actually shut them. He'd always see distorted versions of his memories and past. And, even without anything being altered, those memories were horrifying; the distortion of them just made it ten times worse.

Deku stayed silent as he tensed up and clutched onto the blanket around him. Though Bakugo, who was sitting close to him, surely noticed the slight change. He lowered his voice and softened his face as he went eye level with the freckled teen. Not many people were watching; they were too amused by the fact that Sero and Kaminari were doing the cinnamon challenge.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Bakugo asked as he scanned the greenette's face. Todoroki and Kirishima, who was on the other side of Bakugo, were surprised at how cautious and calm the ash blond was with Deku. They stopped their shocked looks when they noticed Bakugo moved his face a bit closer. The ash blond got a bit lost in thought when inspecting Deku's face up close; it just looked even _cuter_ if possible.

Well, except the eyebags.

Bakugo backed up a little as he blinked, but he continued on with his next question, having the other one unanswered. "Have you gotten much sleep, or even any at all?" He questioned the small lump of the white blanket. Deku's eyes flickered to meet crimson ones before looking back down, not sure what the correct answer was. He wasn't sure if he should lie and say that he did get sleep, or if he should tell Bakugo he got close to zero sleep...

...for the past couple days.

"We just wanna know, Deku. You're not gonna get in trouble whether you say yes or no," Kirishima chimed in as he came into the greenette's vision from behind Bakugo. The freckled teen subconsciously moved closer to the thing that made him feel a little safe: warmth. And, right now, that warmth was radiating off of Todoroki.

He ducked his head down a little and leaned towards the dual haired teen's leg, not wanting to meet the crimson red eyes that bore holes into him. Bakugo sighed as he grumbled, "So I'm guessing that's a no? No sleep?" The greenette's emerald orbs met crimson red for a second as he nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. "And why's that?"

Deku let a small, shaky breath escape his rosy lips, not realizing mostly everyone else had their attention turned to him. "...I can't. There's— memories...bad ones that pop up when I try," he explained vaguely. He buried part of his face in the white blanket, small phrases starting to pop up back in his head. Some were the notes he had made and put in his special place, some were things he was told with the Yakuza, and others....

_"Maybe we would've kept you...if you were useful.."_

_ "...useful.." _

He wasn't useful, just use _less_. That's why he was thrown around like an old toy. Place to place because he was just a tool to be used and handed down once he was no use to them anymore.

He didn't like feeling this way. He felt like this all the time but why was it so much different since he's gotten to UA? He was always able to suppress everything and keep a straight face as he did everything. But why did he feel so...unsafe? No- that's not the word. He felt so... _vulnerable_. He was always so calm and collected but now he was just a broken mess.

His thoughts had been scrambled ever since his meeting with Shinohara after he was rescued; was that the reason? Maybe meeting with that _man_ , the one who had physically, mentally, and verbally abused him, had flicked a switch in his brain. The switch that went back to his less focused and hesitant child self; the one that was constantly scared and fearful, the one that felt like he could die any second, attacked at any second.

The one that was defenseless and weak.

Deku let out a sharp breath as his hand roamed across the scars along his chest and arm, remembering how painful it was when he had gotten them. It was like reliving the moment, over and _over_ again. It seems like his mind had a really fun time messing with him and replaying that moment a plethora of times. He bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly, trying to think of something a little better than what images were being conjured up in his head.

The only good thing he could think about was Eri and his new...classmates. His eyelids felt heavy as he resisted the urge to just sleep. He calmed himself before his eyes looked back up to the ash blond, waiting for a question or something, not even realizing how hurt he had looked for the past couple of minutes as he thought.

There was a pause before Jiro spoke up, "Maybe we can watch a movie to help you fall asleep?" The freckled teen tilted his head at the new word before he was simply told that he would just be shown what one was when they set it up.

The class grabbed their pillows and blankets from their room; Todoroki and Bakugo made a silent agreement to take turns in going to their dorms in order to make sure Deku was fine.

The greenette just spent the time thinking about different things, straying away from the bad thoughts. Well, the _horrible_ ones; he was still thinking bad thoughts. Though, one particular topic whirled through his brain, one that had been for a while.

 _Who_ were his parents?

He already knew why they probably left him so he didn't really need to know _where_ ; they probably didn't want to see him. He didn't want to know what they were like since he didn't need to know if he wasn't going to meet him. He just wanted to know _who_ they were.

It wasn't because he wanted to know about them; he wanted to know more about _himself_. He didn't even have a real name for crying out loud, so he at least wanted to know that part about himself. And maybe he might want an explanation for why he was abandoned and left in the dust. Was he just considered useless right off the bat?

It was confusing. Even though he had a feeling that he was abandoned because of that fact, he still wanted that suspicion confirmed. He wanted to know the reason he was put through hell and back. Because, for all he knows, he could've had the perfect life if one of his parents hadn't just up and left him. Literally just left him to _die_.

His eyes glanced up to see a weird screen, being only slightly familiar to Deku. He remembered watching the Sports Festival on this type of thing...a TV he believed Shigaraki called it..? His thoughts on the topic were quickly put to rest as the others started talking. They were talking about this 'movie' they were going to watch. The greenette thought a second before piecing together bits and pieces of information. They would be watching this 'movie' on the TV, right?

Well it seems like they wouldn't be watching it any time soon considering the constant bickering and arguing amongst the students. It seems that they were having difficulty in picking out the 'perfect movie'.

"Why don't we just have a vote?" Yaoyorozu suggested as she laid out all of the movie options on a table. She had people raise their hands and vote but some people noticed Deku didn't vote for any of the options. "You know you can vote, right, Deku?" Yaoyorozu hinted.

The mess of green curls bounced up as Deku lifted his head quickly. His natural instinct was to look the person who called upon him in the eyes. Speaking of which, would he get in trouble for not properly answering Bakugo and Kirishima's questions from earlier? He felt a pit in his stomach but pushed it away as he answered, "I didn't think I would be able to help in making a decision." He spoke honestly, "But I'm sure whatever decision you come to is fine with me. If it's my fr- um- you all making that decision for me then I don't mind."

It was odd. He seemed to have a lot of trust put into them, yet he was still jumpy and anxious with everything he did and everywhere he went. Deku did have some trust in the others, he really did. But he couldn't entirely trust them yet; they might just turn on him as quickly as Toga did when she found out he wanted to be a hero over a villain. It still hurt to know that someone who treated him with a tiny bit of kindness had just turned on him because of one decision he made. Perhaps he was just bad with decisions?

Probably. Which is why he was hesitant to make his own, always waiting for an order or instructions instead. He didn't want to make a move that might result in the people he had learned to trust to turn away from him. He just wouldn't be able to handle it. But...

What were these people to him? Well, he already knew Eri was like family to him, no matter what. But what about everyone else? Were they just his caretakers? His classmates? He wanted to call them friends, liking the idea of it ever since Eri had explained it to him. He almost slipped up when giving his explanation, almost calling these people 'his friends'. Someone had caught that small detail and decided to bring it up.

"Were you about to call us your friends?" Iida remarked as he looked at the greenette draped with the huge white blanket. Deku knew there was no real way of avoiding it, so he meekly nodded. His head shot up when hearing a different voice near him.

He glanced over to meet crimson red eyes with red hair to match. The redhead gave a toothy smile, "Well that's alright, we're all friends, aren't we?"

The greenette's emerald orbs widened before breaking contact, a strange feeling bubbling up in his chest and face altering upon hearing the mention of him being friends with everyone.

Deku's mouth twitched as he softened his eyes, looking down at his lap. Before everyone knew it, the greenette's rosy lips had curved up, his freckles shifting on his face. People's breath hitched as they noticed the small dimples forming on the teen's face. They didn't want that face to go away, they just wanted it to stay forever; they would make sure that it would stay. The class wanted to see that cute expression on his face all of the time.

And they sure as hell would do their best to keep Deku smiling.


	22. Struggling

Todoroki was currently having an internal crisis because a certain someone kept stealing glances at him.

The movie had barely started but Todoroki wanted it to be over already. Deku's gaze could be intense when he wanted it to be. Emerald eyes bore holes into the dual haired teen, barely paying attention to the movie.

Though, Deku didn't mean to make his gaze so intense, he just wanted to ask Todoroki a question but also didn't want to bother him. So, he decided on looking at him from time to time, still wrapped up in the white blanket Yaoyorozu had given him...among some pillows and things the class decided to shower him with after he had apparently done something 'cute'.

He let out a silent huff, realizing that he couldn't grab the dual haired teen's attention to ask his question. The greenette faced the TV again as he snuggled into the blankets and pillows. Even though Todoroki wouldn't acknowledge him right now, that didn't stop him from scooting towards the dual haired teen's side. Though, he made sure not to get too close; he didn't want to be yelled at.

Deku just wanted to ask if he could get another hug; the other one was nice and he felt like it was easier to fall asleep that way.

An idea popped up into his head as his eyes flickered over to a familiar face. Well, if Todoroki didn't do anything...maybe he could see if he could get Bakugo's attention? Crimson eyes trailed over to the lump of blankets and pillows, noticing it moving. The ash blond turned and locked eyes with the greenette.

Well that was easy.

"Kacchan..." Deku whispered, making the ash blond lean in closer. "Um..can you—" he cut himself off. He's not really in the position to be asking for things; these people—his friends— had already given him so much so why does he ask for more? Deku swallowed a lump forming in his throat as he glanced off, "Nevermind. It's nothing."

Bakugo glanced at Deku before speaking himself, "You can ask me whatever you want." The greenette hesitated as he looked at the ground while he answered.

"I...wanted a hug from Todoroki but I didn't want to bother him so..." Deku jolted when the heat on his right side shifted, Todoroki moving at the statement. The dual haired teen was listening to the conversation, curious as to why the freckled teen was talking during the movie; maybe he had a question about it? Well, now Todoroki knew that wasn't true but why did Deku feel like he was being a bother by asking for a hug?

"I don't mind," Todoroki didn't seem all too happy about it, but in his mind he was very much pleased. He felt all giddy at the fact that the greenette wanted another hug; the dual haired teen surely wanted another one from the freckled teen.

"Back off, half and half, he asked me," Bakugo spat back, struggling to keep his voice down since the others were watching the movie. Well, trying to.

The two hadn't even noticed that Deku hauled his stuff someplace else, not liking the fact that those two were arguing. He ended up next to Iida, one of the other people he was familiar with.

The blue haired teen was about to speak before Deku stumbled over, the long blankets he had in his arms tripping him along the way. Thankfully for the greenette, Iida wasn't too far and he was quick to act. The freckled teen winced at the contact but quickly relaxed when it was Iida holding him.

The blue haired teen held onto the smaller boy, about to help him stand back up and regain his balance. Though, all the greenette did was lean into the taller teen. "Iida, you're warm...can I stay by you..?" Deku asked tiredly.

"Well-!" He blushed when the smaller teen had muttered a single word. That word was 'hugs'. Iida adjusted his glasses to hide his embarrassment, noticing the rest of the class either looking to him or the other two that were arguing. Deku flinched when Bakugo raised his voice; the greenette turned and moved closer to the taller teen by him.

Iida sighed, knowing that Deku was having trouble sleeping, and if the greenette thought that...hugs would help him sleep, then Iida would be glad to help. The smaller boy did appear a bit worn out, after all. "Ok...well we have to sit down..." The blue haired teen stated, surprisingly not loud like usual.

* * *

Right about now Bakugo wanted to kill someone.

Well, not someone, more like two people in particular. One more than the other, although it wasn't by that much. The second person on his kill list was IcySpicy, for obvious reasons, but the second one—

"Ah! He just looks so cute all bundled up like that!"

Bakugo swore he was about to just kill the Lightning McQueen bitch.

Everything would've been just fine if the Heated Air Conditioner just kept his mouth shut. But of _course_ he had to say _something_. Bakugo could've had the green bean in his arms if it weren't for him. But who has him instead?

The sonic lookin' bastard.

Crimson eyes bore holes into the blue haired teen; Bakugo didn't even care about the movie anymore, well, neither did anyone else, that's besides the point. All the ash blond was focused on was giving the four eyes fucker the most menacing glare he could muster. Well, he kind of slipped up when he noticed the greenette's face.

It had only been an hour or two since Deku had fell asleep but it seems like he was already starting to stir awake. Bakugo watched as the freckled face scrunched up a bit and his eyebrows furrowed. The ash blond paused before his eyes widened, the greenette having jolted awake.

Deku seemingly started to panic when he wasn't granted the ability to move freely; he was being held by Iida and didn't process it before he acted. His right hand shot out of the covers and was soon consumed by a deep violet flame. The arm that held the flame was quickly grabbed by something else, so Deku's eyes flickered over.

He was met with ebony brown eyes and soon scanned the rest of the face, recognizing the brunette hair and light pink shade that adorned the girl's face. Deku let his shoulders relax and the flame die out as he let out a shaky breath. The arms that were previously wrapped around him had retracted so he would be able to move freely. He turned to see a shocked Iida along with some of his other classmates, who, had their eyes opened wide.

The TV was the only light and sound that resonated through the otherwise dark and silent room. Deku's heart thudded out of his chest at the realization of what he had just done. Was he just about to hurt his friend?

Deku stood up shakily, not uttering a word as he hastily made his way out of the room. He hadn't heard Uraraka say it was fine after she had grabbed his hand from before. The greenette was just so caught up in his mind that he didn't even process her reassuring words.

He stepped out of the dorm room, the cold air biting his skin and the moon in the night sky lighting the way. Deku shivered as his feet took him off somewhere. He didn't know where that place was, but he surely wouldn't question it now.

His feet stopped after a while; he still didn't have much energy considering he already felt drained in the first place. The cold just made it worse. His jade eyes had observed his surroundings, recognizing the entrance to UA. He let a sigh escape his lips, a small puff of white escaping into the dark night as he did so. He sat down and waited.

He didn't know what he was waiting for, but he surely knew something would happen if he waited long enough. Usually when he waited after having those bad images pop up in his head, the villains would usually come to get him to train like they always had. It was always the same thing with every single one of them. If he chose to wait rather than sleep then nothing would change; he would still be dragged along to do something. So of course he would just have to wait again. It's not like he couldn't do it, sometimes he waisted hours just _waiting_ because he couldn't fall back asleep after a nightmare.

He rested his head on his knees as he tried to let sleep consume him, but unfortunately that wouldn't be happening anytime soon. He felt so... _bad_. Just the thought of him hurting anyone in UA, the people who were kind enough to save him from the hell he didn't even know wasn't right, wasn't _normal_. He felt a lump in his throat as his vision started to go blurry.

Was he about to pass out? No, his body didn't feel heavy and he felt...okay. But what was.... He reached up to his face, retracting his hand quickly when feeling a warm liquid fall down his freckled cheeks. Blood? No, he wasn't injured in any way so what exactly was it—

Deku looked at his hand, surprised that he didn't see a crimson red liquid staining his hands. Instead, there was no color; the only way he could tell his hand was wet was because of the moonlight illuminating his scarred hand. He frantically stared to wipe at his face, constantly checking his hands in hopes he could see a crimson liquid; he was desperately hoping it was blood and not—

...tears. They were actually tears cascading down his face.

He was _crying_.

𝙵𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜

𝔻𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕔𝕣𝕪.

ᶜʳʸⁱⁿᵍ ˢʰᵒʷˢ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ʷᵉᵃᵏ. ᴰᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵇᵉ ʷᵉᵃᵏ. ᴴᵉ ʷᵒᵘˡᵈⁿ'ᵗ ˡⁱᵏᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗ.

D̵̥͓͙̪̟͍͙̎͂̐̊̆̃̚̕o̷̬̍̐n̷͚̂'̴̢̹̱̟̖̥̍̃t̵̬̩̬̬͎̐̒͂͗̇̇͝ ̴͈̃e̶͓̔͋̿̌̌̊̚x̶̡͇̎͂̉̆̔̋̚p̷͔͙͉͚̓̋͑̄̎͆͘r̴̠͉̺̿̾̈̈́͋̚̚͜ȩ̶̛̺̱̱͈͑͐͊̿̾͝ş̸͖͓̘̮͊͌s̵̭̯̥̳̥̑͊̔̃͐͋́̿̋̚,̵̠̺̓͐͗̉̽̈́ ̸̡̠̯̙͎͆̑́̈́̒͛̈̋͘͝j̶̞̭̀͗̚͝û̶͉̭̫̻͈͒s̴̛͕̼͉̟̱͂̄͛̉̉̽ͅẗ̵̩͚̮̯́̂̀̏͌̈̕͠͠ ̴̢͓͖̰̜͙̺̣̠͒̊̉̐̎͊̔̇̀͝r̸͚͇̟͂̿̑͐̆̀̃̈́̇ȩ̸̪͉̃͌̅̐̓̀͆̐p̴̠̈́̏̽̉̐̒̽ŗ̶̗̘̖̱̳̏͗̓͘e̶̜̐̎̇̔̋́͌̎s̶͈͎̑̒͐s̵̩͖̠̭̱̝͓̖̒̏̀̎̾̅̚͜͝.̶͍͙̪̲̥̙̞̈́̔͌̔̉͘͘

Deku exhaled sharply, trying to stop himself from shaking and crying. He wasn't following the rules. He would be punished. He was being bad, he was being _disobedient_. His face scrunched up as mounds of tears cascaded down his face, never stopping no matter how hard he had tried to suppress them.

He buried his head in his knees; if someone were to see him now then he hoped he could try to hide the fact he was crying. A shiver was sent down his spine when he felt something brush up against him. It was fuzzy and it felt warm. His jade eyes peeped out from his knees as he looked up slightly, tears still staining his face.

He hadn't expected a random creature to be standing before him.

The ball of fuzz had moved closer to him, much to Deku's dismay; he had no idea what this... _thing_ was. It had nudged up against his leg, startling him a bit. Soon, it started to rub its head against his scarred hand. Deku was hesitant but placed his hand on it, moving his hand along the soft haired creature.

At least this would help distract him while he waited for whatever was to come.

He jolted up when the thing started making a weird noise; Deku pulled his hand away quickly. Was this thing mad at him for touching it? The greenette noticed that the noise had stopped shortly after, but the furred creature had nudged his hand _again_. Deku paused before lifting his hand up, moving his hand along the fur just like last time, earning the same noise he did before. Though, he noticed that the creature didn't attack, all it did was move even closer to him.

Before long, it had just ended up curled up next to him, occupying his right hand since it would just bother him if he stopped. Deku used his sleeve to wipe away the tears on his face, stopping and calming down when the creature had appeared.

Maybe he made a new friend...?


	23. Should We Tell Him?

The Detective had paced back and forth; he had been doing so for more than a couple of minutes at this point. He combed his hands through his hair, trying to think of the pros and cons of the situation at hand. Should they do it now or should they wait?

The man let out a deep sigh as he sat down in his chair, trying to calm his nerves and look at the information he had to come to his decision. Perhaps he should console Nezu? Yeah...that would work.

The Detective, Tsukauchi, reached out for his phone and began to scroll through his plethora of contacts. His charcoal black eyes were locked on the screen until he tapped the number and held the device up to his ear. A happy hum and a cheerful greeting erupted from the phone as the other line had picked up. The man had gave a weak attempt at a fairly normal greeting, but with Nezu, he was bound to notice.

" _What seems to be the problem?_ " The other line had asked, the cheery attitude fading away slightly.

The man had paused before glancing around, his eyes shifting to the files he had. He exhaled as his eyes opened, a more serious look adorning his face,

"We know who Deku's parents are."

* * *

Nezu had finished the phone call as he set down the phone. He tapped his small paws on the table before turning and hopping out of his chair. He had been doing some late night paper work, but he made his decision on what they were going to do and what they should tell Deku.

He went to go find Aizawa, who, would most likely be awake this time of night. Though, he wasn't expecting for a couple of students to already be at the teacher's door. The white furred creature paused before continuing his advance towards the room, overhearing something about 'Deku' and 'gone'.

A small, tired yawn had been heard, some heads turning to see a very tired Eri, rubbing some of the sleep out of her eyes. She had finally opened her blood red eyes as she looked to some of the UA students, recognizing them because of the little 'play dates' they had when Deku was still with the League.

A small smile formed on her face with a hopeful look in her eyes. She glanced up to meet Aizawa's gaze, "Can we go see Deku?"

The others had grimaced slightly. Before anyone could open their mouths to speak, Nezu intervened, "It's rather late for that to be a possibility. I'm sure he's most likely not awake right now, but I'm sure you would be able to visit him tomorrow." The girl paused before nodding her head, a bit disappointed but overall excited to see her hero again.

Eri had gone back into the room upon Aizawa's request; the teacher had closed the door as he narrowed his eyes at the handful of students that were there. "What happened?" He asked as he started going in the direction of the dorms, gesturing for Nezu to go with Eri. The students had explained what had happened and Aizawa had groaned before jogging over to the dorms, his students soon trailing behind him.

"The League didn't take him, did they? Could they?" Yaoyorozu inquired, pondering her question as she followed behind Aizawa and the others. The others looked to Aizawa, who had sensed his students' gazed fixated on him.

The teacher paused, "No. I'm sure he's just in his room or hiding somewhere. He couldn't have gone far." He felt a small drop of water fall as he picked up his pace, "We better hurry; it's getting late and it might begin to rain." The students nodded, their nerves slowly dissipating at the reassurance their teacher gave. Deku should be safe. He _had_ to be.

Who knows what might happen if he had been taken by the league.

* * *

" _Meow_."

The greenette's tired eyes had looked back down at the creature that was keeping him company. It hadn't been long, Deku guessed. Though, his estimates could be slightly off, considering the fact that he often played the waiting game; the time usually flew by as he found himself engrossed by the scene around him, observing every little thing. He often had some things tucked away in his mind, some important and others were just details he had observed.

The more he looked at the creature, the more questions he had as to what it was. Now, he wasn't dumb, just a little uneducated in some areas, but he surely remembered reading about animals. This one seemed to be similar to how a tiger was described. But...weren't tigers big? This creature was smaller and less vicious than what was described; the library back with the Yakuza hadn't had many picture books. Deku wracked his brain until he came to the conclusion that this creature was part of the felidae family. Or maybe it was one of those household pets called a cat...?

He decided on calling it a cat for now.

 _At least it isn't dangerous_ , Deku concluded as his scarred hand went to pet the cat. A familiar noise filled the air as his hand gently glided across the soft fur, Deku remembered reading about purring, so maybe the cat was doing that? But cats only do that when they're content so maybe the petting made it happy? The greenette was cautious with his movements, not wanting to unintentionally hurt something _else_.

He shifted in his spot and was startled a tiny bit when he felt a drop or two of—water...?— make its way on his porcelain skin. His emerald eyes flickered up to the night sky, looking over the white stars that adorned it in small portions. Another drop had fell upon his freckled cheeks, making him blink rapidly as he tried to get a grasp on the situation. He wiped the droplet away before looking to the sky again, more droplets falling in handfuls, a small his coming from the cat.

He was going to get up and return to his dorm room, but there were a few problems with that. He didn't want to go back; the others might be mad for almost burning Iida to a crisp with his quirk. On the other hand, it's not like he _could_ go back, even if he wished to; the night sky had cast a shadow on the area he was able to see in just fine a couple of moments ago. Though it seems that the shadows had made it difficult to decipher which direction his dorm was in.

Deku paused as he scanned his surroundings. Wouldn't it be better if he went back now? It would make the punishment less harsh, anyways. He moved his scared hands on either side of himself, ready to haul his body up and off the ground. He heaved out a groan when he noticed his body defied him, crumpling to the floor with the heaviness of it. He felt something around him, it was soft and fluffy as it curled up in his lap, never leaving his side even as the drops from the sky began to fall more frequently.

He thought for a moment as his eyes were set on the liquid falling down from the sky. It was odd for him, only being outside a handful of times, this type of weather being unfamiliar to him. His brain began to swirl with thoughts, trying to conjure up information relevant to this situation. This...this type of weather had to be rain if he remembered correctly. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Satisfied with his knowledge of the foreign event that had happened, he sat against the wall, feeling cold again as the night air flowed through his fluffy hair and loose clothes. He had a fire quirk, so why did he feel so _cold_? A shiver ran down his spine before his shoulders slightly relaxed, his body slowly adjusting to the brisk night air. He felt his eyelids fall as he slowly succumbed to the darkness, a need of sleep whisking him off to dreamland.

* * *

He had awoken only half an hour or so later, hearing voices while also jolting awake from the nightmares that had plagued his mind. He blinked rapidly as he opened his emerald orbs, opting to observe the area around him so he could make his next move. He felt something on his forehead and slightly flinched away, still not accustomed to sudden contact. He was slightly dazed as he looked around, feeling a bit hotter than before as he tugged at his clothes.

"....might....sick...get him....his dorm." Deku had only heard bits and pieces, but when he felt hot and cold arms trying to scoop him up, he merely shook his head in protest. His hands searched around absentmindedly, though, he felt a bump on his stomach and looked down to see his shirt poking out. He grabbed the hem of it as he pulled it up.

"Cat..." Deku mumbled softly before he put his shirt back down, briefly observing the rain that still fell from the night sky. He moved his arms down before cradling the creature in his shirt, the cat only moved further up in or until it reached his chest. "I...no.." he protested again when the arms went to hoist him up. "I can...walk.." he argued as his tired emerald eyes shifted up to meet heterochromatic ones.

Todoroki had quietly shook his head as he lightly jostled the greenette in his arms, a silent message that suggested, 'I'm carrying you there' was conveyed by the action. The greenette's lips fell down to a frown, his eyelids soon falling as well when he curled up near the semi-familiar warmth of the taller boy's chest.

Aizawa sighed in relief as he followed the small group of students back to the dorms; Iida had gone and told the others that Deku had been found. The teacher had silently wondered why he was a teacher, the hassle of it all being extremely draining alone with paperwork and hero work. His thoughts halted to a stop as the small group had reentered the dorms; he noticed his chaotic group of students swarm Deku, their classmate, the victim of abuse that they had to watch over. He noticed different types of reactions for the plethora of personalities that were mixed in his class of heroes in training. He let a small chuckle escape his lips.

Guess being a teacher wasn't all that bad.

* * *

"And you're absolutely certain this is correct?" Aizawa asked, looking up to meet Nezu's beady eyes.

The small creature nodded as he slid the paperwork across the desk; he had printed out the files that were sent over by Tsukauchi earlier in the night. The black haired teacher exhaled heavily as one of his hands combed through his unkempt hair, the other sifting through the documents and files.

The resemblance between the greenette and this woman were astounding; the same wide, innocent green eyes and the same round face, both with small chubby cheeks. Though, her hair seemed to be a darker shade, like a jade green or hunter green, and her hair was straight as opposed to Deku's forest green curls. Other than that and the freckles that sprinkled his cheeks, the two had looked awfully similar.

Why hadn't they noticed before? It had been close to a month after the rescue, after all. Well, Aizawa guesses it was because the police weren't really looking beforehand; the aftermath of the Kamino incident being a lot to take in and clean up, not to mention the fact that they were engrossed in finding the League's next moves and hideout. Now, it seems, the police had opted to search for the boy who had been a part of the case, a _victim_ , and find out his parents and other crucial information.

Aizawa looked up to Nezu, "So you want his mother to meet up with him?" The underground hero was hesitant in his question, pondering if it was such a good idea in the first place.

"If he is willing, then yes. The police already did a thorough background check of her. Though, it seems his father doesn't reside in Japan currently, at least his biological father," Nezu briefly mentioned.

"And you wanted me to introduce that idea to him tomorrow, correct?" Aizawa groaned, placing the documents back on the table before doing so. He looked to see the principal nodding in agreement. Damn.

And to think Aizawa had his adoption papers nearly filled out and filed away in his desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Went on vacation so sorry about not updating in a while.


	24. Questions That Need Answers

"No...Don't...warm..."

It was rather difficult _not_ to burst into flames at that moment. Todoroki was about to set the greenette down on his bed until three words came from the sleeping boy's mouth. Deku's scarred hands gripped onto the taller boy's clothes, not wanting to let go. Though, one arm still cradled the cat in his shirt.

"Deku," Todoroki jostled the boy in his arms, choosing to try and wake him up. Though he didn't want to, he had to wake up the sleeping boy in order to get him to change into new clothes; his current ones were wet and cold.

The greenette groaned and opted to shuffle closer to the taller boy's left side. "Todoroki..." Deku mumbled, acknowledging the boy's presence. He wearily opened his eyes as they shifted upwards. "I...I'm really tired..." he informed. "Sorry..." he continued.

The door opened and Todoroki looked up, his face didn't change much but the look in his eyes suggested he didn't like the person there.

Despite not facing the door, Deku knew the person at the door and opened his mouth with a small yawn. "Kacchan..." he greeted before setting his head on the dual haired teen's chest.

"How...did you know it was me?" Bakugo asked as he stalked up to the two, shooting stupid Icyhot a glare when realizing Deku was basically half asleep in the bastard's arms.

"Mm my...quirk..." He sleepily explained.

"Alright...but you have to get into different clothes before you go to sleep. There's no way you're going to sleep with those clothes on," Todoroki stated as he gently set the smaller boy on the bed.

Deku willed himself to stay upright and awake as he took his shirt off. The other two began to panic a little as the greenette just slipped off his joggers as well, leaving him in just his boxers; the cat had curled up near him. His eyes were barely open and his shoulders were hunched over as the two boys stared at him. The clothes were just shoved off the bed, which really goes to show how tired the freckled teen was. He rolled over and pulled the covers over himself and his new—pet? It was fairly obvious that he was cold; he wrapped the blanket tightly around himself and curled up a little, mindful of the cat.

The two heard purring from the cat; it moved up to curl around the soft green curls. _Lucky fuck_ , the two had thought bitterly as they looked at the feline with jealousy boiling inside of them. "Tha....Thanks...." Deku muttered as he closed his eyes, attempting to go to sleep.

"You look cold. You need more blankets?" Bakugo asked with a raised eyebrow.

Deku made a small hum before shaking his head no; he didn't want to cause more trouble than he did so he accepted the one blanket he already had. The other two exchanged looks.

"What the fu—"

"Deku," Todoroki began. The greenette slowly turned over in the covers to face the two, noticing the dual haired teen holding out a black turtleneck. "I don't know if you have any warm sweaters but...you can use mine since you seem cold," the heterochromatic eyed teen suggested as he held it out.

There was a pause, Deku looked at the sweater and hesitated, looking up at the taller male with a slightly confused look on his face. "I...don't— it's yours and I shouldn't..."

"But I told you it's fine. I don't mind. Take it, I don't want you to be cold," he continued.

"Fuck no!" Bakugo yelled as he snatched up the turtleneck. He shoved it towards the dual haired teen before going to the closet. "You can just—...." he paused and took something out of the closet. "Deku..," he said slowly, "...what is this?"

The ash blond held out a bunny onesie, seemingly big enough for the greenette to fit into. Emerald eyes looked over while Todoroki had to look away, his face burning at the image his brain provided him of said greenette in the onesie.

"Yaomomo made it for me..." Deku mumbled before he yawned.

"Why?" Bakugo asked as he pretended to look it over; he was really just using the material to hide his flushed face.

"She—..I didn't have any nightwear.... so she made me that...." he slurred out as he sat up again, rubbing his eyes in an attempt to wake himself up more.

There was a split second before the ash blond had tossed the nightwear over to the greenette. The material had hit the boy's face and it stayed there for a brief second before he pulled it off rather quickly. He tossed his covers off of himself as he shuffled out of bed. He wasn't thinking all that much when he stood up so abruptly; he started to stagger as his vision blurred slightly.

Deku tried to stand up but that thought was quickly pushed aside when he was swept off his feet. His heartbeat spiked as he began to panic. Who was picking him up—

His eyes trailed up to meet Bakugo's eyes.

He relaxed a little when realizing that the person who had picked him up was someone he knew. That didn't stop Deku from trying to get out of the taller boy's arms though.

"Wait. What are you— stop!" Bakugo held a tighter grip and pulled the greenette closer to his chest. "You need to lay down and get to sleep. Getting up and moving around isn't gonna help," The ash blond insisted. He attempted to walk to the bed in an attempt to get him to bed. Albeit there were some very...inappropriate per say—carrying the freckled teen in his arms while only wearing boxers wasn't a very good thing; Bakugo's mind supplied some..images and he had quite the imagination to say the least.

"No..." Deku huffed out, a seemingly pained look on his face as he tried to get out of his friend's grasp. "Just...let me. I...need— I have to....train..." Deku had half expected for Bakugo to disagree and _maybe_ raise his voice slightly, but the greenette surely wasn't expecting another voice to pipe in.

"Why? Why do you push yourself so hard?" Todoroki asked, a hint of fury in the otherwise monotone voice. It was obvious the dual haired teen was trying to suppress his emotions and steady his voice, but Deku could see emotions swirling through those heterochromatic eyes. "You— You're probably sick and you're worried about _training_? Why? What for?" Todoroki had pressed on.

There was a pause when Deku had stopped struggling in the ash blond's grip, letting the words settle in before he could answer. There was a small sigh that escaped the freckled boy's lips; Bakugo took the opportunity to set said freckled teen down on the bed.

It seems as though Deku was to engrossed in thinking. Whether that be about Todoroki's questions or how to answer them, the greenette didn't bother to get back up and attempt to train.

There was tension in the room, though no one knew exactly what _kind_ of tension and why it was there but it was there and so they would have to deal with it.

The air was silent and the two taller boy's' gazes were set upon the shortest boy, unconsciously looking him up and down in his almost-naked state.

Todoroki blinked, trying to focus on the conversation; he had failed miserably when his eyes roamed the porcelain skin covered in scars.

Bakugo did the same as he lowly growled in frustration, flouncing over to the closet where he had previously grabbed the bunny onesie.

He had crouched down to the little drawers at the bottom of the closet and opened it up, finding neatly folded clothes sitting there. He grabbed a pair of joggers and a short sleeved shirt, the joggers black and the shirt a dark grey. He soon walked over and handed the greenette—who was slightly more alert and awake now—the clothes.

Another pause before Deku slipped on the clothes.

"Because I want to be a hero...." he finally replied to Todoroki. The greenette looked over to the cat, which had walked over and curled next to him. Emerald eyes shut as a small breath had escaped his lips.

He recollected himself before standing up again. It was obvious that his movements were slowed, but he made it clear that his destination was the door. Deku reaches out for the doorknob and quickly swung the door open, making it his goal to go down to a recently added training room that was built into the dorms.

He was perplexed when the two—who were so keen on stopping him beforehand—hadn't even spoken or moved a muscle when he closed the door behind him.

The greenette was near the bottom of the stairwell when he felt his vision blur like it had beforehand. Deku waited for it to subside, standing on a stair as he held the railing. Eventually the feeling increased, so he opted to sit down on the stairs, catching someone's attention.

There were footsteps in front of him, that's what Deku had barely heard but also noticed the feet on the floor in front of him, the silhouette only recognizable since he's been in a position similar to this many times before. Memories of Shinsohara crept into his mind and a shiver was sent down his spine.

"...y...ku....ey....De....llo? Deku!" The teen in front of him had spoken. Shouji had crouched down in front of the freckled teen and held him steady, noticing how the smaller boy began swaying slightly and his face appeared pale.

"No...stop...I have to train," he urged like he had before with Todoroki and Bakugo. Deku closed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows as he made a frustrated exhale. He opened them again as his emerald orbs shifted upwards, "Please...."

Shouji didn't know what to do. Obviously there was something wrong with the boy but it was like walking on eggshells when it came to Deku. Should he allow it and let the boy train or should he get the smaller boy warmed up? It was clear that he was cold...

The grey haired teen hesitated; he didn't want to mess anything up, he hadn't even interacted with Deku much in the first place.

But— Shouji was a hero, right? Well, a hero in training but a hero nonetheless, so— weren't heroes supposed to help those in need? He wouldn't be much a hero if he just left Deku to his own devices the way he his now. With that, Shouji made up his mind.

He leaned forwards and wrapped his six arms around the small boy, eventually shifting him around in his hold so Deku would be carried and be comfortable. Shouji found bridal style was probably the best option so he stuck with that. Though, the taller boy didn't expect for the shorter one to slightly nuzzle into him.

Thank god he had a mask.

There was a loud commotion in the stairwell; Shouji turned back around, having previously turned away to get Deku to the couch.

It wasn’t long before he noticed two familiar faces, the two being dubbed ‘Deku’s guard dogs’ by some of the class. They both seemed worried and slightly out of breath, all of the running—assumably—at this late of an hour being draining.

Shouji noticed how they both had a relieved look in their eyes for a second when seeing Deku. Though, those emotions immediately subsided and were soon replaced with anger and worry—Todoroki appearing a bit more worried and Bakugo, of course, appearing angry.

“You need to go to—” a hand was slapped over his mouth, preventing him from speaking. The hand belonging to Todoroki and the speaker being Bakugo.

“You want to be a hero? What _hero_ is exhausted all the time? If you overwork yourself and train yourself to the point of exhaustion, when the time comes, you won’t be able to do your best and save people,” Todoroki declared.

Those swirls of emeralds were focused on him as he spoke, listening attentively. What Todoroki didn’t expect was for those eyes to fall dark upon a shadow casted by the forest green curls above them.

“You don’t think I know that?”


	25. Keeping Calm Isn’t all That Easy

Todoroki was taken aback by the harsh glare that bore into him, emerald eyes brimming with anger and a bit of...hurt? The greenette had been set down by Shouji to where they were now sitting on the couch; Todoroki sat across while Bakugo listened in while sitting on an adjacent couch.

The dual haired teen wanted to speak up and rephrase his words. He didn't _mean_ to make it sound so bad. He was just worried but now it made it seem like he was suggesting that Deku _couldn't_ be a hero. He was about to fix his mistake when the greenette— who didn't tend to speak his mind or much at all— spoke up with clear distaste and anger lacing his voice.

"I've been through more than this and you know that. This isn't going to stop me. Nothing is or will ever stop me from becoming a hero whether you like it or not," Deku grit out as he stood, ignoring the way that his body screamed in protest, a pounding headache and his muscles aching were signs of that. Though, he didn't do much as wince at the sensation, far too familiar with pain to be bothered by it. He turned to resume his route to the training room when Shoji's voice stopped him.

"It's obvious you want to become a hero but I think Todoroki is implying that it would be better to do so when you're feeling better," The six armed teen had stepped in and tried to convince the freckled teen to sit back down.

Deku gave a side glance before looking back towards the training room. "You don't understand. I... _need_ to be stronger," he willed himself to slip slightly out of his sleepy state and stay up. "It's not like I can sleep anyways so I may as well be useful...." he grumbled. He drilled near the doorway as memories flashed through him mind in waves; he unknowingly moved his scared left hand over the huge scar trailing down his right arm. There was also the ones he still had from Shigaraki as well; the ones from when the knives were pushed through his thighs until he was planted on the chair. All he remembers is blood and pain.

He urged himself to move to the training room, unaware of the others who were trying to talk and convince him that he should rest. Their attempts fell upon death ears when the curly haired teen had stepped out of the room, too preoccupied by his thoughts to listen.

None of them could go after him, not after he was mad at...the three of them most likely. Bakugo hadn't said anything but they didn't want to take a chance and send him there. Though, they might try to see if anyone else was up so they could go check on the freckled boy.

* * *

The greenette was out of breath and his lungs felt like they were on fire; his limbs ached and his head felt like it was about to explode. He relished the moment on the training room's cold floor, liking the way it felt against his heated skin. If he were being honest, he would rather dawdle his time in the comfort of his bed, easing into the sheets and trying his best to get some rest.

Albiet being on the cold training room floor was pleasant for the heat produced from a good hour or so of training, the situation felt so familiar. A voice had yelled at him, _screamed_ at him in his mind with such viciousness that he urged himself to get back up to resume training. The voice was a mix of Shinsohara's and his instructor back with the Yakuza.

The yakuza...

He planted his feet on the floor as he faced the punching bag once again, subtly reminded of why he had to train so hard.

He wasn't training to be a hero for anyone but Eri...and maybe even himself. He wanted to protect her and keep her safe. He wanted to be strong for her and never lose to show her that everything will be okay and that as long as he's there then nothing bad could ever happen to her. Whether she knew it or not, Eri was very special to Deku.

It was his fault he never noticed the bandages hidden under her ill-fitting clothes. Sure she wore long sleeves and baggy pants but how could he be so _blind_? He had to make it up to her somehow. There was absolutely no reason she should've gotten hurt, not when he was there.

Heroes save people and help them no matter how hard the task is. He wanted to save people, people like Eri and himself and other kind of people, all sorts of people. He didn't want anyone to end up like he did because from what he's overheard, he got the short end of the stick.

It bothered him so much. Shinohara, that man, had made him think that all of that was normal for a child: being trained every single day, having a stranger come into your house to teach you schoolwork rather than going to an actual school, wearing yourself out to the point of exhaustion.... He was so used to it that he couldn't adjust yet, so here he was in the gym at almost ten at night though he was unaware of exactly how late it was.

He felt the pent up frustration surge through his chest and redirected it to the punching bag in front of him, sweat fell down his face as he heaved out breaths. He stepped back and raised his leg to kick the punching bag and effectively knocked it back with more force than he had expected and intended to use, causing the bag to swing harshly. He paused and didn't process what was happening until something rammed into the side of him and pushed him down to the floor.

His back hit the floor with a thud, making his body and head hurt ten times more than it already did. He felt a pressure on his chest and opened his eyes to see strands of spiky red hair. It didn't take long for Deku to associate the heat signature and the red hair with Kirishima.

"Ugh...Kirishima..." he grunted as he shifted to sit up, allowing the redhead's face to fall down on the greenette's lap.

Crimson eyes opened and went to push off of the surface he was on in order to bring himself upright again. Kirishima pushed his hands against the floor.

Wait...why was the floor squishy..?

He pushed off and his eyes trailed down to where his hands were. Kirishima's face flushed and his eyes widened when it dawned on him. His face wasn't on the _floor_ , it was on Deku's _lap_ meaning that his hands were on the greenette's thighs....

Kirishima quickly pulled his hands away and jerked back. "SorrysorrysorryIjust—Iwasum—" the redhead stuttered out. Deku raised an eyebrow slightly as he tilted his head a bit. The blood seemed to flood faster to Kirishima’s face...and perhaps somewhere else too. Though, Kirishima had to admit that after...feeling them, Deku’s legs were _really_ muscular. Now Deku was cute, in his opinion—well it was more so facts then opinions but who was he to be the judge of that— so it ultimately, again another opinion, Deku would make the perfect boyfriend.

Well, it wasn’t specifically because of his...looks.. that he would be the perfect boyfriend, it was the fact that he was so strong. Not to mention the small little smile he gave that one day...oh how much the redhead would give to see that cute smile again. He would love to wake up and see that smile the first thing in the morning while being cuddled by the cute greenette. He would be the perfect boyfriend. Kirishima wasn’t sure if he himself would be due to what had just occurred—

“Thank you...” Deku mumbled.

Wait _what_?

The redhead looked at the freckled teen with much confusion so Deku clarified, “For getting me out of the way...” Oh now _that_ would make sense.

While Kirishima had his gay panic, Deku had to calm himself down and try to assure himself that he was fine and safe. He wasn’t being harmed by a villain or anything, he wasn’t in danger. It was merely just his friend pushing him out of the way because he could’ve gotten injured. Once he was calm, he decided to thank the redhead.

Deku had to admit that it was a mystery as to why the redhead was here in the first place. He wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings so Kirishima could’ve been watching him—which Deku found highly unlikely— or he could’ve been training himself. The greenette went with the second option, seeing as though the spiky haired male seemed flushed and was sweating a little bit; he was probably tired from his own workout as well.

“How long were you here training?” Deku prompted, pushing himself to speak more in front of others than he had in the past. He scanned the redhead for an answer—who currently looked like a fish out of water.

Kirishima thanked whatever god out there that had saved him the embarrassment of Deku knowing what he had done. The greenette probably hadn’t thought much of it; he was also glad that Deku thought his face was flushed because he had been training. Which, to be fair he technically was; his eyes were trained on Deku as the short boy threw kicks and punches. Kirishima hadn’t been in there earlier when the freckled teen was training his quirks.

“Um not that long...” Kirishima trailed off as his eyes went to the punching bag. It was still swinging beforehand but as he looked at it, the bag was put to a complete stop. _Okayyyy that’s totally not creepy..._ the redhead thought. He turned back around to ask Deku if he had witnessed it but noticed the greenette blink a little before groaning. “Um was that you doing that...?” Kirishima hesitantly questioned.

There was a beat of silence before Deku’s emerald eyes peeled up to meet Kirishima’s blood red ones. “The punching bag...? I used my telekinesis quirk. I have pyrokinesis and telekinesis.... I used it during joint training but other than that I don’t use it as much,” Deku reasoned.

Kirishima turned so he was facing the freckled teen again, he had regained his composure well enough to hold eye contact for a couple of seconds. The redhead didn’t want to admit that his mind kept straying to what had happened nor the fact that his eyes kept drifting down to the boy’s thighs.

He _really_ should get his head out of the gutter.

“So...” he began, trying to stop his thoughts from derailing. “Why don’t you use your telekinesis—” he stopped himself when he noticed that Deku’s face was still flushed and that the freckled teen seemed to be fighting off sleep. And to be completely truthful, it seemed as though Deku was losing that battle. The redhead hesitated before scooting closer and pulling the greenette over to himself.

Thankfully for Kirishima, Deku didn’t flinch that much at the contact. Actually, the curly haired teen opted to move closer and even particularly sit on the redhead’s lap. Whether Deku knew it or not, that was making Kirishima lose his cool quickly.

“I’m sorry...I should probably mmm probably ask...but you’re so warm...I hope you don’t mind...” Deku mumbled as his face squished up against the redhead’s side.

“I could carry you to your room...?” Kirishima offered, “Todoroki, Bakugo, and Shoji actually asked me to check on you.” The redhead noticed that Deku had slipped away and stood up shakily. Kirishima frowned when he took note of the silent statement in the action, ‘No thanks, I can walk.’ It was obvious that Deku couldn’t, though. “Then...I can make sure you get there fine? Maybe keep you company if you want?” Kirishima questioned. There was a pause before the freckled teen nodded slightly, slowly shuffling to the training room exit with the redhead in tow.


	26. Don’t be Scared...

Aizawa was absolutely _thrilled_.

False. That was sarcasm.

His hands went through his black unkempt hair as he let out a frustrated sigh, looking over to Deku, who he had asked to stay after class. It had been a week without telling the greenette that they had found his biologial parents, one of them at least. He should've done it sooner but after that day of the freckled teen being stuck in the rain, he had gotten sick for a couple of days.

~~~

_"So...He's sick? From the rain?" Kaminari had asked as he fiddled with a pencil, dropping it on the floor afterwards much to his own embarrassment._

_"Sounds like some kind of cliché..." Sero had muttered under his breath._

_Their teacher's piercing gaze was set upon them, shutting them up almost instantly. He let out a sigh as he glanced to the rest of the class. "If you would let me finish...." he stacked up some papers he had sitting on the podium, "He was sick even before the rain according to Todoroki and some of the others."_

_Todoroki had been the one to take Deku back to the dorms that night but the rest of the class seemed to recall that the greenette had mentioned he was cold multiple times that night. The class came to the conclusion that the rain and cold weather had probably just added to the condition the freckled teen was in._

_"Besides, what kind of person gets sick from the rain? They must have a pretty weak immune system in order for that to happen," Aizawa reasoned with a mental eye roll._

~~~

Which brought them to now.

Charcoal black eyes looked up to see slightly curious emerald eyes. Aizawa found it was so great to see some life, some _emotion_ in those green eyes. Of course, he wasn't expecting Deku to be like Eri after a month or so; she was happy and smiling all the time, something seemingly impossible for someone like Deku.

The greenette was put through hell for his whole life; he would be much harder to please than Eri, who had experienced....a terrible lifestyle for three years. Not to say that Eri's case wasn't bad or anything, but she is just lucky that she got saved when she did. Children's minds are easy to manipulate and change so she just needed a little push; Deku was a teenager with his own ideas and outlook on life.

So it really was a wonder how the freckled teen managed to start coming out of his shell a little. He acts different and even looks different from before. His emerald eyes are opened wide and his green hair is curly—he looks different compared to when they rescued him. Aizawa noticed that there was a faint scar on the left side of his face—it was usually covered by his green locks.

"You're probably wondered why you're staying back. No, you're not in trouble. I was told to give you information regarding your..situation," the teacher began with a bit of hesitation. He looked up from the papers he had glanced down at and watched as the greenette nodded his head, following along.

How exactly would he phrase this....

"It seems as though...we were able to trace and track where your parents are...one of them, at least," the black haired male managed to explain. His eyes, having been focused on the papers as he painfully announced the news, shifted upwards yet again to see the freckled teen's reaction.

Deku staggered and had to grip onto the desk in front of him. His face was pale and he looked scared for once. Out of all of the emotions that the underground hero thought Deku would show, it was certainly not fear. There was also a mix of anger and—sadness? This day is just full of surprises— as well. The greenette was probably overwhelmed as he sunk to the floor, not acknowledging the way that Aizawa was set into an internal panic.

The teacher stood up abruptly and hesitated as he crouched down near the curly haired teen.

The two didn't bother to notice the pitter patter of footsteps approaching the room.

"Deku!" The girl has shouted cheerfully with a bright smile. Her smile quickly fell when she noticed the curly haired teen on the floor looking confused and scared. _Just like I was_ , she thought. Her crimson red eyes scanned the situation before she ran over and wrapped her arms tightly around the boy as best as she could, ignoring the way Aizawa confused about the situation.

She didn't know what to say or what to do. She was clueless in this situation but something about seeing Deku like that made her just as scared as he was.

She started to cry silently into his shoulder.

"You don't have to be scared anymore. The bad people are gone!" She reasoned as she gripped his shirt tighter, "The heroes will be here! They'll protect us! Just like you!" She sniffled when the curly haired teen didn't answer.

She was a bit startled when familiar scarred and muscular arms had wrapped around her. "I don't want to go away. Not without you or the others. I don't want them to take me away. The heroes can't do anything if they take me away. I can't see you if they do," Deku rambled, he was almost hysterical, something very terrifying to witness since it was so out of character for someone like him.

He hid his face away in the girl's hair as his breathing was erratic, almost sounding as if he was on the brink of tears—which didn't seem as unbelievable as it did before. "I don't. I don't. I don't want to go," he repeated as his grip on Eri grew tighter.

His chant was put to a stop when a hand went through his curls, relaxing him a bit but leaving him speechless at the contact. His green orbs lifted up to meet concerned charcoal black ones.

"You don't have to see anyone if you don't want to. You don't have to go away or do anything if you don't want to," the teacher spoke in a surprisingly soft voice, the voice he often used with Eri if she had a nightmare.

Thankfully, Deku seemed to calm at that a little, albeit he was still a bit worked up about the information he had been provided. So his parents..maybe parent based off of what Aizawa said, was alive. _Living_.

It bothered him so much.

He had known that they had to be, at least one of them had to be, but just hearing it out loud was unnerving.

He didn't know how to feel about any of it.

"Your mother..." Aizawa continued hesitantly and quietly, "...was very eager to meet you. She wants to see you."

 _But she didn't want me in her sight after I was born,_ Deku thought bitterly with a unsteady exhale. "Why are you telling me that?" He mumbled, not bothering to raise his voice in case it would crack.

"I wanted to let you know that despite what Shinohara said, your— family... does seem to love you. At least that's what we gathered so far. She was happy and overwhelmed when we told her about you. She begged for us to allow her to meet you," Aizawa paused when he noticed a look of distaste in the greenette's eyes. "It's your choice," he finished.

Eri seemed to look up at that, showing her tear stained face that had slowly come to a stop when Deku appeared better. She looked at the freckled teen with excitement; the teen lifted a scarred hand up and wiped her tears away. Her small smile never wavered as she asked him, "So would that make her my mama too? We're like family so she would be my mama too, right?"

A frown seemed to make its way onto Deku's face but he quickly replaced it for his neutral face. "You could put it that way," he supplied hesitantly. He internally grimaced at the lie but watched as her smile widened.

"So can we go see her?" Eri prompted, earning a look of slight panic and disappointment from Aizawa and Deku respectively.

"No. I don't want to see her right now," Deku stated simply. He combed his hands through her hair, remembering how it used to soothe her.

None of the three in the room noticed the person on the other side of the door.

The three didn't see the look on their face before they headed off.

* * *

Yaoyorozu watched Eri curiously; the red eyed girl seemed to notice as she lifted her head up and looked over to the black haired teen.

Eri was confused on why she was being stared at; she had already told the class who she was in the common room. She wanted to make sure that Deku was feeling better after what had happened in the classroom earlier. She opened her mouth for a second before closing it, not knowing exactly what to say.

Yaoyorozu perked up and realized she had been found out. "Oh I'm sorry, Eri! I was just trying to figure something out," she informed. The small girl had nodded so the teen would continue her explanation. "Well I noticed Deku doesn't flinch when you touch him suddenly. When we tap on his shoulder or something, he— doesn't like it. When he's with you, it's like he isn't scared. He fell asleep just fine with you by him," Yaoyorozu pointed out as she gestured towards the greenette.

Eri had been curled up near him before; it always made her feel safe like that. She frowned when she heard the first part but smiled a bit at the second part. "Deku wants everyone to be safe! He feels safe if he knows everyone is safe!" She exclaimed proudly, similar to how a younger sibling looks up to their older sibling.

Yaoyorozu and some of the others in the common room had smiled at the comment. "So," Ashido said slowly, "he likes to have a friend with him to make him feel better?" She had to phrase it in a way for Eri to understand.

Eri had nodded happily.

"What about cats? Ribbit?" Tsu had asked.

The little girl gave a look of confusion before Ojiro further explained, "He's taking care of a cat."

"Yeah and the fur-ball is a little menace," Bakugo growled out as he took a seat near where the greenette was sleeping on the couch.

"Kitty cat?" Eri wondered in awe, loving the creatures ever since Aizawa showed her what they were. She looked around a little and stood up, leaving the curly haired teen on the couch as she began to search for the cat.

Someone was going to tell her that it was still in Deku's room, but somehow the cat had just strolled into the common room. It seemed to be looking for something before its brown eyes landed on Deku. It immediately walked over and hopped up on the couch, curling itself around the viridian green locks. The freckled teen had only shuffled a little before continuing to sleep.

Eri has turned around when she looked to see everyone's eyes focused on something. She looked over and noticed what the cat did. Her blood red eyes glimmered with excitement as she hopped back over to the greenette.

"That's so cool! The kitty likes Deku!" She held a hand out for the cat to smell just like she had done with some of Aizawa's cats. The cat didn't seem to care until it lifted its head up to acknowledge Eri.

The feline got up, walked over to where Eri was sitting near Deku, and plopped itself into her lap. She giggled happily, "It's so nice! And it's soft!" A purr erupted into the air when the girl's small hands threaded through the cat's soft fur.

The class looked bewildered; they hadn't been able to get close to the cat, except for Kouda, of course. Maybe he made the cat do that to keep the others away? Would that mean that Kouda could be competing for Deku's love as well?

Bakugo started move, unintentionally moving closer to Deku as he did. The class laughed as the cat hissed at the ash blond; Bakugo got mad and was about to yell at the cat before it latched onto his leg and started clawing at it. Kaminari and Kirishima tried stepping in to help until the cat had hopped onto the shorter blond boy's face, almost scaring him enough to have electricity spark from him.

Fortunately, Kirishima had used his quirk and managed to hold the cat in place, albeit the cat was rather grumpy. The class found it funny the way that the cat and Bakugo seemed to be glaring at each other.

"Uh okayyyy...how about we...take you back to Deku's room," Kirishima spoke to the cat as if it could understand.

"Izuku," someone corrected.

The class looked over to see Aizawa standing in the doorway to the common room.


	27. Light in the Darkness

The others had turned to Aizawa, hearing the strange name escape their teacher's lips.

Kirishima had accidentally lost his grip on the cat, making the cat fall. _At least he—she? I need to ask Deku it's name and stuff_ , Kirishima thought briefly as the cat hissed at him and scurried away to the sleeping greenette.

The rest of the class watched but some had their attention on their teacher. If Aizawa was being honest, on any other day he would've gone over and pet the cat without a care but right now he had to make an announcement.

"What do you mean by 'Izuku'? Is that the name of the cat? Does the cat already have an owner?" Yaoyorozu questioned the underground hero. The questions seemed draw people's eyes away from Deku and instead shift to Aizawa, curious about the name as well.

The black haired male let out a quiet sigh as his eyes shifted over to the freckled teen, who was still curled up on the couch with the cat by his side. He shook his head as he slowly responded, keeping an eye on the greenette as he did so, "That's his name. We...finally received more information. The rest of the information is dependent on him. If he doesn't want it released to you guys then I won't say a word."

"Izuku," Shinso worded out slowly. He paused as he let out a small smirk, "I like it. It suits him." _Pretty name for a pretty person,_ he thought, mad that he didn't think to say that out loud. Though, he was glad he didn't; he saved himself from the embarrassment.

The others had agreed but paused when their teacher had seemingly materialized a bag of cat treats out of no where. The confused looks the students gave earned a harsh glare from Aizawa saying, ' _Don't judge me_ '. His charcoal black eyes landed back on the cat when he started shaking the bag. The grey cat had peeked up from it's usual place—near the greenette— and began to make its way over to the pro hero.

Aizawa observed the cat, which was more the size of a kitten if he was being honest, and made some mental notes. Though, one of his students pointed out one of his own observations, "She looks way better than the first day she was here." Kaminari shifted his weight as he observed the animal. "Kouda was this your doing?" He questioned as he raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

The tall boy frantically shook his head before someone asked their own question to Kaminari. "She? How do you know that?" Ashido asked as her eyes drifted away from their teacher petting the cat to the blond haired boy.

"Deku...Izuku?.... told me. Well— he didn't tell me but—" the honey eyed boy was cut off by a whack to the head.

"YOU WERE SPYING ON US?" Bakugo seethed as he glared at the shorter boy.

Kaminari whined as he held his head. He turned to Aizawa who had simply tilted his head further down. "Mr. Aizawa did you see that? Aren't you gonna do something?"

The teacher deadpanned, "See what? This stuff is out of my jurisdiction. It's not during school hours." He stood up as he made that announcement, making his destination clear when he went to the exit. Though, he made sure to gesture to Eri silently, signaling to her that she had to come with.

The girl had appeared slightly upset but pushed the look on her face away when she looked at Deku sleeping, at least she thought he was. She stood up and walked next to the underground hero, placing her smaller hand in his larger one.

"But we're on school grounds!" Kaminari argued after the teacher. Aizawa made a lazy wave with his hands before exiting the dorm building.

The others didn't see Deku jolt awake, alarmed by Bakugo's yelling. Though Todoroki noticed, not being able to tear his heterochromatic eyes away from the greenette in the first place. Todoroki was the first, if the only one to move to the freckled teen. It wasn't noticeable but if you looked hard enough you could see the freckled teen shaking.

The dual haired teen knew it was stupid, but he went ahead and sat on the couch, wrapping his arms around the curly haired teen. When the taller one felt Deku tense up, he was quick to whisper reassurances and made sure to tell the greenette who he was, saying, "It's okay. It's me, Todoroki." He was going to say Shoto but he didn't think it was the best time thinking about getting the boy to use his first name.

Deku had eventually relaxed in the taller ones grip, even daring to move closer, the warmth helping to comfort him. Apparently his cat, along with the others, had sensed his discomfort; the grey cat had moved to his side and meowed while the others had their eyes set on Todoroki hugging the greenette.

Todoroki's heart felt like it was going to explode, but he didn't want to pull away. One because he really liked the feeling of holding the other in his arms and two, he didn't want to be the one to let go first. Though, that time never came as Deku seemed to lean further into the hug.

Desperately trying to distract himself from his jealousy, Kirishima decided to ask about the cat after a minute, giving the greenette time to recover. "Your cat is a girl?" Deku glanced up but didn't pull away as he hummed, closing his eyes as he focused on the warmth of the hug.

Deku found that his new favorite thing is probably hugs.

Though, he reluctantly pulled back and tore his eyes away from the heterochromatic ones that were, without a doubt, looking at him. With what emotion? He wouldn't know; it could be anger or something along those lines. Deku was surprised a little when he looked back over and noticed Todoroki's face looked different. It wasn't mad, it looked...disappointed?

In reality, the dual haired teen was upset that Deku had pulled away.

So, Todoroki pulled him back into a hug, resting his head on the freckled teen's shoulder.

"Can we hug more? You don't have to if you're uncomfortable but..." Todoroki trailed off. He didn't want to admit out loud that he was touch starved, but that doesn't mean that he isn't going to ignore it. He had been ignoring it for years but when he held Deku in his arms that week or two ago, he realized how much he wanted it again.

"You're not mad at me...?" Deku asked slowly, questioning it more than stating it. The freckled teen had found himself going towards the warmer side again, stopping when he heard a cough from the side.

Emerald eyes flickered over and the rest of the class seemed to be watching the exchange him and Todoroki had. He turned turned to Kirishima to answer the redhead's other questions he might have had about his cat.

* * *

What do you do in a situation where an angel is sleeping on your lap?

Well, Tokoyami was _screaming_.

Internally, of course. He couldn't really externally do it without waking up the angel or making the jealous people angrier.

Apparently Deku—well Izuku— had wanted to spar since he found Tokoyami's quirk interesting. Which, Tokoyami couldn't refuse when those emerald orbs were staring through his soul, yet they also pierced his heart.

Honestly, Izuku didn’t really like his name, since it came from his “mother”, which he still refused to meet after a week of finding out about her. Though, he only took the name Izuku because Eri convinced him that it was a very pretty name and that she really liked it. So, he just took that name. Though, last names were not discussed yet.

The crimson eyed male was quite surprised that he didn't spot Thing 1 and Thing 2 around—otherwise known as Todoroki and Bakugo. Though, Izuku seemed to be acting more by himself rather than following other's examples; the class had noted that Izuku was a quick learner.

Tokoyami also learned that firsthand when the greenette had managed to exploit his weakness so quickly and effectively after one short sparring match. In which afterwards it wasn't really sparring, more so just Izuku using the poor bird boy as a punching bag.

There was an obvious improvement in Izuku being able to show his emotions slightly more. Even in the way that the greenette's voice had sounded when he had asked if Tokoyami was okay was much different than back at the training camp.

The boy's blood eyes had looked down at Izuku, who had his head resting in his lap; apparently Izuku was up late training or something so he was rather tired.

Tokoyami froze when the boy started stirring in his sleep. His red eyes glanced around and noticed the cat nudging the boy awake, earning a quick movement from the freckled teen.

That was one thing that didn't change much; Izuku would still get startled when awoken, but it wasn't as bad as before. The greenette wouldn't get as startled when someone tapped him, while awake of course, anymore. It was really nice to see how much a different environment could change a person. Though, there were still those thoughts of the environment Izuku must've been in for him to act the way that he does.

Izuku's eyes shot open and took a second to refocus as the lights hit his eyes. "Oh..Tokoyami," he greeted, not very good with them in the first place. The greenette looked down and let out a small 'oh' as he apologized; the crimson eyed boy reassured the freckled teen that it was fine.

The greenette sat up and placed himself next to the bird boy, finally turning his attention to Runa, who had so rudely woken him up. Scarred hands had grazed over the grey and white fur, earning a purr from Runa, who had placed herself on his lap.

Tokoyami contemplated the name; the cat's fur wasn't dark—the name she had was translated as luna, which is usually associated with dark colors so....

"Why did you name your cat Runa?" Tokoyami questioned.

Izuku’s eyes trailed down to the grey cat as he continued to pet it. Other people tuned in when they heard the question, some people actually curious about the greenette’s reasoning. And maybe it was partly because they wanted to hear his voice a little more; he still didn’t talk much but would still respond to others and try to lengthen the conversation.

The freckles on the boy’s face shifted a little when a very faint smile had appeared on his face. Some people silently gasped while others just had a look of slight shock, the last time they had gotten a smile out of him was the first time he had smiled, about two or three weeks ago.

“I didn’t name her based on her looks. I named her as a reminder to myself. Whenever I see Runa, I think of the night I found her...” he paused when he remembered how he had cried for the first time in a while; he hadn’t told anyone about it. His smile fell as he began his next sentence, “She’s also a reminder of the darkness and the cold...The dark...brings up bad things, bad memories, but I can’t just forget they didn’t happen. I want to remember those so I can remember what I’m fighting for and what I want to be a hero. It’s fine if I’ve known the darkness for all my life, because now I know the light too. Everyone here...all the heroes, you guys, and Eri...you’re the light to my darkness. Without the darkness, the light wouldn’t be able to shine so bright. So...Runa is a reminder that I’m becoming a hero to be someone el-else’s light. B-Because...”

His voice cracked and he didn’t even realize the silent tears dripping down his face as he looked up; the rest of the class felt as if a pain shot through their hearts just seeing a Izuku like that. All they wanted to do is hug him and make him feel safe and loved.

“...I-I wanna be like you guys. I wanna be the light for someone who only knows darkness,” he choked out as he held Runa closer. The grey haired feline had stopped purring when there was a shift in the boy’s mood; she snuggled closer to him and wrapped her tail around his wrist in an attempt to make him feel better.

The rest of the class had the same idea as they went to reassure the boy and comfort him as much as they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is the worst. Updates are very slow because I am ✨stressed✨.


	28. Misunderstanding

The class heard stomping and immediately knew who was about to enter the common room.

The people there turned to see, unsurprisingly, Bakugo with a pissed off look on his face. Apparently he was so angry that his face was turning red. The ash blond stumbled over his words a little—now that was surpising— before he spoke, "First of fucking all, who taught Deku what 'cuddles' were. Secondly, I wanna know who the fuck showed him how to pout."

Ah. So he wasn't angry, he was flustered.

There were a few people who were silent, but some eyes flickered over to Mineta for a split second, until realizing that the grape boy wouldn't be one to teach such innocent things. So, instead, eyes wandered over to Kaminari, who had a confused look on his face.

The blond began to panic, "W-wait! Why do you guys think it's me?" Kaminari's eyes glanced over to his red haired friend, who was currently avoiding any sort of eye contact.

The redhead shuffled nervously on his feet, "Well he wanted a hug so I said sure..." he paused, "I um...I might have mentioned something about it and I guess since he was only comfortable with receiving a hug from me, he went to find one of you guys. He might've gotten the pouty bit from Eri."

"But where did cuddling pop up in the conversation?" Uraraka questioned, trying to wrap her head around the greenette cutely pouting and asking Bakugo— BAKUGO of all people for _cuddles_. And also the fact that it managed to make the ash blond flustered.

"Uh he said he liked hugs and I said something about 'there's something better than hugs—'"

"Se—" Mineta began but was quickly stopped with a violent slap to the face by Tsuyu.

The class had tried to recover from that conversation afterwards, ignoring the comment that the grape boy attempted to make. At least they _tried_ to avoid it.

It really didn't help when Todoroki came in with Izuku clinging onto him like a koala. The greenette looked rather tired but still stayed partially awake.

Bakugo was about to open his mouth and to start yelling at Todoroki before the dual haired teen spoke, "I couldn't refuse him. It is something that is beyond my capabilities. Plus, he's probably touched starved. Doing something like this could make him feel better."

"Touch starved...?" Izuku mumbled a little with a hint of confusion in his voice. The dual haired teen stiffened up when the greenette went to put his face in the crook of his neck.

Izuku immediately noticed and pulled back quickly, detaching himself from the boy before standing on the ground. Runa, who refuses to let the greenette leave her sight, hissed at Todoroki and went to nuzzle the curly haired teen's leg.

"I'msorrysosorryIdidn'tmeanto..." the greenette looked down and unconsciously lifted his arms to protect his head. "Don'thitmeI'lldobetter," he mumbled incoherently. The boy's knees buckled as he curled in on himself.

Todoroki and the others panicked.

Now they weren't a stranger to these panic attacks by any means but it was extremely difficult to deal with them considering how Izuku was. Todoroki backed off a little bit to give him space, remembering that the teen didn't react well with physical contact in this state. Sure, it had worked last time, but last time it wasn't as bad as the one right now.

It took a bit for him to calm down but he eventually did; when he came to he looked really worn out and tired. His emerald eyes flickered up to meet the others' gaze, his green eyes held pain in them and he looked so defeated and disappointed in himself.

"I'msorry,so so sorry. I don't know how to make them go away. I can't stop them," he stared at the ground and kept repeating 'sorry'. Todoroki's knees hit the ground as he leaned over and wrapped his arms around the smaller teen.

"You don't have to be sorry. It's my fault I reacted that way. You didn't do anything wrong, I just wasn't expecting that," he reassured the boy, cradling the head of viridian green curls against his own chest. Of course, Izuku didn't cry; he only did that rarely as far as the others were concerned.

The freckled boy relaxed a little, though he was still a little shaken up by the old memories that made their way into his head when he was in his panicked state. He looked up with his chin resting on the other's chest when Todoroki spoke, "You— We can still..um...cuddle if you want?" The dual haired teen felt he should've phrased it better but his nerves seemed to seep through his facade.

Izuku lowered his head and rested it on the other's chest for a moment as he looked to the floor. A hesitant nod followed the action and, before he could process what was happening next, he was hauled off of his feet.

With the others watching, Todoroki gladly led Izuku to the common room's couch, where there was something already playing on the TV. He sat on the couch first and then looked up to see Izuku standing there hesitantly. The half and half haired teen cocked his head to the side as if to ask what was wrong.

"Can I go up to get my blanket first?" The boy nodded and watched as the freckled teen went towards the elevator. Heterochromatic eyes watched the boy but then noticed something. He stayed silent until there was a small ding of the elevator since Izuku started using them on occasion.

He turned to the others when the greenette was out of sight. "Is that scar on his face new?"

The others immediately stopped, having gone back to chattering to distract themselves from jealousy. "What the fuck are you on about half and half? What scar on his face?" Bakugo snapped while explosions crackled in his palms.

Todoroki pointed to a spot on his own face and motioned a medium sized line down the side of it. "It was covered by his hair but you can still see it," he pointed out.

The others tried to come up with how the scar could've gotten there or if it was new or old. None of the students really knew much about Izuku's past; the only things they knew of were the things that the greenette had told them—which was not much— and the scars that littered his body that were presumably from the villains. They also knew that Izuku didn't have a family since he didn't even have a real name for most of the time that they had known him.

Moments later, the familiar freckled teen cane into sight with a large, fuzzy white blanket draped over him. It was honestly adorable and the people there felt fortunate to be blessed by such a sight. Though, their happiness fell a little when the boy had walked over and snuggled into Todoroki. Which, some would've argued that there was a small flame that sparked up when that had happened.

The rest ignored it while the two began to cuddle on the couch, with the smaller of the two eventually falling asleep after a short while.

* * *

Kaminari thought he was seeing things the first time it had happened, but when it continued to happpen then he knew it wasn't just him.

He looked over and noticed the greenette giving him a look. Kaminari didn't know exactly what the look was supposed to mean but hopefully it wasn't bad. The blond had complained about Todoroki and Bakugo stealing a bunch of everyone's 'Izuku time' to the Bakusquad yesterday but he didn't know if that had to do with it or not.

And yes, Kaminari would admit that he _is_ jealous.

But as of right now, he wanted to know why the freckled teen seemed to be clinging to him more than he would with Todoroki, Bakugo, or even sometimes Iida.

It was even more of a surprise when the greenette had joined them at lunch; the freckled boy never ate in the cafeteria so that was even more of a surprise. Kaminari felt happy that he was able to spend time with the teen, but he was kind of disappointed that he couldn't get him to talk that much.

It wasn't until after the boy tried to follow him into the bathroom that Kaminari decided to bring it up to his friend's during training. Albeit, that was hard to do privately when Izuku constantly followed him like a puppy.

"Have you guys noticed that Izuku keeps following me around? Like I don't mind it but I just don't get it," Kaminari scratched his chin as he thought, trying to think(keyword, _trying_ ) of a reason Izuku would do that.

"I dunno man. Maybe you did something he didn't like?" Sero suggested.

"Maybe he's just trying to get to know more people but doesn't know how?" Kirishima suggested.

"Maybe he's looking for a boyfriendddd," Ashido giggled teasingly.

"Maybe he's trying to figure out how a human without any brain cells functions. Just ask him, he's coming over here anyways," Bakugo's voiced lowered slightly as the greenette finally approached.

Izuku stayed silent as he looked down at his hero outfit and messed with some things to distract himself.

"Deku," the greenette looked up and his eyes immediately went to Bakugo. He knew that the blond had still used it. At first he didn't like it but Bakugo convinced him that the name shouldn't be forgotten and that it could be a reminder, just like Runa's name.

The ash blond continued once he noticed he had the other's attention, "Why do you keep following dunce face over here?" He jabbed a thumb over to where Kaminari was, a little to the left.

Izuku's face formed into a frown, which some others noticed as they turned their attention to the scene; they were actually curious as to why Izuku had been acting so off today.

"It was what he said yesterday...."

"Did he say something to make you upset, kero?" Asui chimed in.

The freckled teen nodded his head a little and the others asked what he had done, fearing that Mineta had influenced Kaminari to make some poor decisions.

"I heard Kacchan and Kaminari in the kitchen yesterday. Kacchan told Kaminari to 'go die' and Kaminari said, 'okay'," Izuku looked rather upset as he looked at the floor, "I wanted to make sure Kaminari was okay." He looked up with sadness evident in those green orbs.

The other's last heart squeezed and Ashido tried explaining that it as saying that is was a joke and then had to proceed to phrase the sentence so the boy could understand.

They were left with a semi angry Izuku looking at the ash blond, "Kacchan that's mean." Later, Bakugo would learn how tone down his anger; Izuku had ignored him and didn't wanna follow Bakugo around the rest of the day.

Which, kind of pissed Bakugo off.

Midoriya continued to stick close to Kaminari even if he had found out the actual meaning behind the conversation. Kaminari found it as a win in his book; Izuku seemed to care about him and Bakugo wasn't being loud?

It was like heaven and Kaminari didn’t want it to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the bad chapter; I wrote this and almost fell asleep several times in the middle of writing it.


	29. Emotional Encounter

One moment they were walking down the sidewalk and then the next thing they knew, Ashido had been thrown against a wall.

Izuku's face went from one of neutral to grim in a second. He had turned to the cause of the 'accident', though Ashido had started to bleed from he head from the impact of the wall.

The greenette noticed a group of people, small 'villains'—rather small time criminals in reality— that seemed to be looking for someone to rob or simply just attack them because they were UA students.

The Bakusquad, plus Izuku, had decided to go to a shop right after school since Kaminari and Ashido insisted Izuku should explore more things and try stuff. Due to that, they got a lot of unnecessary attention given they still had their UA uniforms on.

Like right now.

He couldn't use his quirk in public, Izuku knew that much, but he couldn't help the small flame that had appeared in his palms when he noticed Sero had gotten hurt as well. Though, now that he thought about it, isn’t that what their hero licenses were for? So they could use their quirk in public? Izuku let the thoughts fade as he focused on the task at hand.

Kaminari seemed hesitant about fighting but Kirishima and Bakugo were quick to get into fighting stances. Izuku had glared at the criminals with a burning hatred.

It shouldn't have been as scary as it was given how cute Izuku normally was, but the change in his eyes, face, and overall demeanor was pretty unsettling. "If you hurt one of them again then it's not gonna look good for you," he declared with a serious look etched on his face.

One of the criminals, presumably the leader, had activated her quirk and hesitated before speaking. "And what's a pipsqueak like you gonna do? Your stupid little flames," she held her hand up and shot, what seemed to be iron poles out of her palm, towards Kirishima, making minimal damage to him while he activated his quirk. "...aren't gonna do anything to help out your weak friends."

Izuku looked back at Kirishima and something changed on his face while he looked on with as much worry as he could express before turning back around. His eyes seemed to glow a little as he lifted his hands up and aimed them towards the small group, forcing them to collide together. He didn't break eye contact with the girl and managed to make his voice even when he said, "Sero, make some tape."

Kaminari looked wide eyed at how Izuku had bunched up the criminals with his quirk; he tended to forget that the boy had two quirks. The blond didn't want to make Izuku angry, thinking that he would snap or something if anyone spoke, but he had to announce something. "Well Sero kind of can't move...not until—"

An iron pole seemed to speed towards Bakugo, who was in just as much shock as Kaminari was. The pole had stopped midway through the air, only a couple of inches away from Bakugo. The ash blond looked up to see the greenette still focused on the girl, "I don't need my hands to use telekinesis." He didn't give away anything else that might give the criminals an advantage. Like the fact that he only used his hands because it was easier to use the quirk and the fact that he would not be able to handle a ton of weight if he didn't use his hands. "So don't try anything or I might have to use my flames," he announced, summoning a pretty purple flame from his foot to demonstrate.

"Those flames are fucking hot so you better watch your back, dipshit," Bakugo added before going over to check on the others. Kaminari was currently on the phone with the authorities since Bakugo wasn't good with people.

* * *

Ashido looked down at Izuku with a confused look on her face. She held the ice pack on her head that she was offered from getting flung against the wall so hard; she heard that it was due to someone with an odd quirk. They were able to use their quirk kind of like telekinesis, though it only applied to metal objects. They were only able to make things attract to metal objects, basically turning Ashido into a human magnet when she was thrown at the metal wall.

Thankfully Sero and Kirishima had been fine as well. Kirishima only had a scrape or two from falling on the ground or from not activating his quirk quick enough. Sero had only got the wind knocked out of him, which is why he was unable to make the tape.

Ashido watched how the switch in Izuku's brain happened when there was a fight. She noticed that he was well-versed in quirks and how to fight, like that's the only thing he was taught, like that was the only reason he was _born_.

The thought made her sympathize for the greenette more. She wanted to make him feel the same joy that everyone else should have.

She was brought back to reality when she noticed the greenette held his arms out. She gave him a look indicating she didn't know what was going on but Izuku mistook it as a bad sign. He put his arms down and cast his gaze downwards.

"He wants to give you a hug, idiot," Bakugo commented from where he was 'helping' Kirishima get up. "He's doing it to make you 'feel better'," he continued as he whacked Kirishima's head.

Ashido looked down in surprise. She knew, as well as everyone else, that Izuku didn't like touching people he was unfamiliar with, so maybe he was starting to warm up to the rest of the class?

Ashido smiled and spoke up as she addressed the freckled teen, "My bad!" She held an arm out, considering she had to use one to hold up the ice pack, when Izuku looked up, "You don't have to if you don't want to but you can always have hugs from me!" Shortly after she finished her sentence, she had a curly haired boy hesitantly wrap his arms around her for a hug. He placed his head on her shoulder and they stayed like that until they had to go.

* * *

_"You can get it over with now and if you don't want to see her again afterwards then you're done."_

Izuku remembered what Mr. Aizawa said but he couldn't help but regret his decision in agreeing to it. He walked down the hallway and kept his neutral face on as usual, trying to maintain his composure like he usually did. Though, he found that he was slowly starting to express himself more when he was around his friends. Somehow they helped him with expressing emotions he normally wouldn’t: sadness, happiness, and a bunch of other their feelings he had felt were taken away from him when he was smaller. He always felt numb, just going through the motions day by day, but now everything was different for him.

He was stopped in front of a door and looked to his left to see Aizawa. “Are you ready?” The greenette shook his head no at the question. “Come on, you’ll be fine and it most likely won’t take that long. If she tries to hurt you then don’t use your quirk. I’ll be watching from the other side so I can use my quirk on her if necessary. If you want to walk away then you can walk away,” the tired hero supplied.

Izuku nodded in understanding as he took a deep breath and faced the door. Aizawa took that as an indication to open the door so he did so.

The greenette lifted his head up as he walked into the room, only to see a table in the middle of it. At the table was a short, plump, green haired lady with hunter green eyes that reminded him of his own emerald ones. She also had the same wide eyes that he had and she was short just like he was.

They both froze as they looked at one another, silence filling the empty, grey-walled room.

The squeak of a chair moving and falling onto the ground broke the silence. The woman had stood up from her chair, which was the reason it had hit the floor. Izuku watched as her eyes seemed to gloss over before tears slipped out of her eyes.

"My baby..." The green haired woman whispered as she stumbled forward, reaching out to hold her long lost son back in her arms. “I’m sorry,” she blubbered as she began to cry.

The curly haired greenette flinched away and seemed to be in a daze before a scowl formed on his face. He backed up as she got closer and uttered a single word, “No."

Inko, the woman in question, seemed heartbroken, but she tried again, "It's me, your mother. I'm here, Izuku."

Deku shook his head as he backed away from her more than he did before, "No— No no! You can't just expect everything to be alright! You might be here now, but where were you all those years ago? When I actually needed you? Someone to lean on? Oh wait. You were living a life perfectly fine without me in it! But all of a sudden you see a damaged child in front of you and you want to help?” He struggled to keep a straight face but pain slowly made its way onto his face as he continued to speak.

“Do you really think sorry is going to fix everything? I could have been normal if you didn't leave me to rot in that alleyway. But...maybe it was for the best if it meant you weren't in my life," he trembled as his eyes watered. He knew he couldn't cry. Not here. Not now. It would show he's weak, that he's vulnerable. And he wouldn't show that to her, he wouldn't give her that satisfaction of knowing that this woman had made him cry. He had turned to go away and felt a hand touch his wrist.

He screamed and started to activate his quirk on instinct.

Inko quickly let go and backed away, noticing the flames that had disappeared as soon as they appeared. Aizawa was on the other side of the glass, looking at the freckled teen with his own quirk activated; he wasn’t expecting to have to use his quirk or for Izuku to be so expressive.

He heard the detective and the others by him shuffle around before he heard a click. “Mrs. Yagi, we would advise that you leave the room. If you refuse, then we will have to escort you out,” a voice spoke to the left of Aizawa.

The tired hero almost lost focus when he heard the name ‘Yagi’. He focused on the freckled teen and watched the scene unfold. “I thought you said it was Izuku and Inko Midoriya, not Yagi,” he grunted, listening in for the detective’s commentary.

“She was remarried,” the detective quickly breathed out before clicking another button. “Get security to escort her out as fast as possible,” he turned to Aizawa, “Please escort your student—”

“NO— Izuku! You don’t— That’s not it! You don’t understand—”

There was a crash followed by silence.

Aizawa forgot when he had looked away but he rushed back into the room when he noticed what had happened. The table in the middle of the room had been flung against the wall, most likely thrown due to anger.

Izuku collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily as he clawed at his chest. Inko seemed shocked as she attempted to move forwards to help, though she was quickly held back by a security guard or two. “No no! You can’t take me away from my baby!” She pleaded as heavy tears fell from her cheeks. She had a pained look on her face as she continued, “Help him! Let me help him!”

Aizawa gave her a cold look as he glanced at her. He briefly spoke, “Right now you can help him by exiting the room.” Inko froze at the words and allowed herself to get dragged away. She only snapped out of it when a choked sob escaped her lips while the door closed, “I love you, Izuku.”

The freckled boy ignored it and tried refocusing his vision from his impending panic attack.


	30. You’re Okay

_Well that could've gone a lot better..._ Aizawa thought as he ruffled his hair a bit before stepping out of the dorm's elevator. He had brought Izuku back to his dorm room and was getting ready to leave. That is until he noticed a good amount of the class in the common room. _I thought teens were supposed to be in there room all the time like the weird creatures they are_ , he internally groaned as he faced Ashido, who had come up to him with a worried and curious expression plastered on her face.

"Is he alright?" She asked. She must've been referring to how roughed up the greenette seemed to be when Aizawa walked in with him. Izuku seemed to be in a daze when the pro hero had led him to his dorm room. Not to mention the fact that Izuku's hair was a mess and he appeared like he was about to break down, which Aizawa could see that as a possibility.

Izuku was a strong kid for putting up with the shit he did given his past. The tough and monotone persona that he had displayed when they had rescued him veered Aizawa away from the fact that Izuku was just a kid. He learned how that wasn't how Izuku really was. Izuku was really this soft hearted and fragile teen that was so distant from the outside world. And that distance scared him, it scared Izuku but he just hid it away under those dulled emerald eyes.

Aizawa was glad that the boy was finally showing some part of himself but it killed him that he wouldn't talk to anyone about how he actually felt or what he had been through. Sure, the police had gotten a pretty good idea from that house search and from Shinohara himself, but they didn't have a word from Izuku about it. He didn't say anything but the signs of abuse were obvious from the boy's actions and the little things that he _did_ say about his past.

The panic attacks, the scars, the way that he would flinch at any fast movements, the way that Izuku would try to hide away when someone raised their voice, and just being in crowds were a couple of signs that Aizawa noticed. Sure, some of those could be from other things, but no kid has a huge scar across his chest and along their arm. No kid doesn't not know what smiling is or how to do it. No kid should only know pain and only pain. No kid should not be able to sleep because of nightmares and old memories constantly keeping them up at night.

He knew Izuku shouldn't have to suffer in silence for much longer, but he felt the greenette should have room to think for now. He had just met his mother for probably the first time. One that he probably assumed abandoned him or was dead based on how Izuku's world seemed to crash down during his talk with Shinohara, when he was first told that he didn't have a family so to speak.

"He's just— a little shaken up," Aizawa answered vaguely. "You should probably leave him alone for now. If anything, have someone he's rather familiar with to go check up on him," he advised before going to the exit.

Ashido paused before turning around to the class, defeated, "Todoroki and Bakugo are at their training thing for the provisional license exam and Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero went out so—"

Uraraka hummed, "Iida went to go visit his brother so I'm guessing you're our best bet, Mina!"

The pink skinned girl faltered, "Me?" She turned to Jiro to argue against Uraraka's point.

"Nope. I don't even know how to handle that. He seems better around you anyways so this is all yours. Better take up the opportunity before his guard dogs come back," Jiro waved her hand dismissively as she used her other hand to twirl her ear jack.

Worried about her freckled friend, she gave in and headed to the boy's elevator for their side of the dorms. It didn't take long for her to get to Izuku's dorm, which is why she hesitated when standing in front of the door.

She knocked softly, "Izuku? It's Mina. Can I come in?" There was a shuffling inside the room before she heard what sounded like footsteps from inside the room. She assumed it was so he could open the door, most likely uncomfortable at the thought of leaving the door unlocked for anyone to enter.

She heard a click and looked to see emerald orbs peeking out from the crack of the door. There was a pause before the door opened fully. Ashido didn't have much time to take in Izuku's outfit—which looked really cute on him— before she was engulfed in a hug. She took a moment to register that it was the greenette who had hugged her and he was now holding onto her tightly, but she also took in the fact of how small Izuku really was. He was really short for a boy her age, being either exactly five foot or maybe four foot eleven.

Though, it didn't take long for her to wrap her own arms around him; she had to ignore the way that the boy flinched at the contact before nuzzling her shoulder again. She closed her eyes, prepared to wait a little bit before the greenette would let go.

A few minutes passed before he tilted his head to the side, making his curly locks brush up against her neck and chin as he spoke into the open air. "You said I can always get hugs but..." he pursed his lips while Mina paused, still holding onto him and waiting for him to finish his sentence. He tilted his head once again so now he would be facing her neck as he spoke, "Can we cuddle? It helps me sleep...." He began to mumble at the end, losing his confidence as he spoke.

Mina felt her heart squeeze and she mustered out a yes while Izuku pulled away. He looked down and hesitantly grabbed the girl's pink hand in his own as he led her in his room. He let go as he went to close the door and Mina walked over to test the bounciness of the bed. She smiled as she landed on it, falling down on it with her back to the bed and her arms outstretched across the sheets. She briefly noted that the blankets were all bunched up, presumably so the greenette could get out from under the covers.

She looked up with her honey yellow eyes, seeing as Izuku was right next to the bed just standing next to it. She paused, confused on how exactly they would cuddle and even questioned in her mind if the freckled boy knew it would be uncomfortable if he had snuggled into her chest like he tended to do with Bakugo and Todoroki.

She watched as he crawled onto the bed, hovering over her before he had placed himself on top of her, burying his head in her shoulder like he did while they were hugging.

"Okay?" The greenette's voice was a bit muffled against her shoulder.

Mina had tensed but relaxed when she noticed Izuku was careful in the way that he laid down and where his hands were. She already knew the greenette wasn't like Mineta so that's why she had agreed to cuddling. Well, she wouldn't cuddle with any of the other boys in her class since it would be awkward. Well, actually she wouldn't care if it was someone in the Bakusquad since they're pretty respectful.

She snapped her attention back to Izuku when he tapped her arm and lifted his head up. Realizing she never answered the question on if the way that they were laying was okay or not, she confirmed that it was fine and the greenette relaxed. He placed his head back down on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her neck.

She couldn't see when his eyes fluttered closed but she grabbed the blanket in her reach and hauled it over the both of them. Izuku must've thought that she was cold because Mina felt a surge of warmth escape the small boy, most likely due to his fire quirk. She smiled a little bit before bringing her hand up to mess with his curly hair. Mina knew to be cautious with it, considering she herself had similar curly hair. She watched as he flinched away from her touch.

"Sorry, I should've asked first. Is it fine if I touch you?" The girl asked softly, toning down her usually loud voice because it was obvious the freckled teen needed sleep.

The greenette hummed into her shoulder and part of her neck as she felt a small nod from him as well. Mina waited a second before massaging her hands through the messy green curls. She had also placed her other hand on his back, making light circles and shapes on his back in hopes it would coax him into sleep.

"Let me know if I should stop, m'kay?" Mina whispered. She waited for a response and didn't earn one. Confused, she called out his name. She smiled after a minute, putting together the fact that he had probably fell asleep. Which, she didn't blame him for; he looked really tired from when he came back. She rubbed her cheek against his green curly lightly as not to wake him, "Night Izuku."

* * *

Saying that Bakugo was pissed was definitely an understatement.

Apparently Deku had come back from who knows where with the Yellow Caterpillar and the damn nerd had appeared shaken up and broken. First of all, Bakugo wasn’t even there when Deku got back. Second, no one bothered to even tell him about it until after he arrived at the dorms, and third of all, Icyhot was tagging along with his trip to Deku’s room.

“Go away you half and half bastard. I can deal with this myself,” the ash blond growled as he exited the elevator, flouncing towards Izuku’s room. Todoroki said nothing as he trailed behind the other boy, more so concerned of how Izuku was or what he would say to Izuku.

Todoroki was half expecting for Bakugo to knock but of course he just had to walk on in. The dual haired teen followed behind and watched the ash blond open his mouth to speak but nothing came out, which Todoroki found odd. His heterochromatic eyes followed where Bakugo was looking and Todoroki paused as well.

They weren’t really expecting to see Izuku and Ashido cuddling.

The pink haired girl opened one of her eyes and smirked, “Awww is Blasty jealous that I stole his man?”

Todoroki clenched his fist and Bakugo growled, “He’s not mine, Pinky.”

“And it’s gonna stay that way,” Todoroki added with a glance to Bakugo. He walked closer to the bed, leaning over a little to see Izuku’s face cutely nuzzled into Ashido. Before Bakugo could add an angry rebuttal, Todoroki asked Ashido, “How long has he been like that?”

“Sleeping? Uh I dunno. I kind of fell asleep a little bit too. I woke up like five minutes ago and I don’t know what I should do,” she replied. “He likes it when you mess with his hair though, watch,” she smiled as she looked down to run her fingers through the green curls. Izuku had hummed and moved his head a little so Ashido could have better access to his bed head of hair.

The other two stayed silent, one of them resisting the urge to squeeze the greenette in a hug and the other had to stop himself from walking over and slapping Ashido’s hand away and replace it with his own.

Ashido halted in her movements when she felt Izuku tense up while a surge of heat emitted from him. He moved his head away from her neck and lifted his head up rather quickly. “Izuku it’s okay it’s just me and Bakugo,” Todoroki assured when he noticed the change in those emerald eyes. He bent down in front of the freckled boy so they were eye level. “See? We’re okay. You don’t have to get up, you can go back to sleep,” Todoroki made sure to slowly reach over, careful not to scare Izuku when he ruffled the green curls a little.

The three noticed as Izuku slowly put his head back down on Ashido’s shoulder. “Kacchan?” he questioned, not being able to see the ash blond but he could surely match one of the three heat signatures with the ash blond.

“I’m right here, Deku,” he replied as he stepped towards the bed. He waited a minute before asking, “So what happened?”

Izuku looked in Bakugo’s general direction before looking back at Todoroki who was still eye level with him. “Mina gave me cuddles,” he answered.

“No, I think he means why you looked so sad when you came back, Izuku,” Ashido chuckled a little.

“Oh...” he murmured. “Mr. Aizawa brought me somewhere to go see my mom....”


	31. Sorting Things Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku tries to deal with his conflicting feelings.

“You- Your mother?..." Todoroki asked, with what looked like confusion...? on his face.

Izuku nodded his head, snuggling into Ashido and hiding his face away. In all honesty he really didn't want to talk about what happened with his mother. He just wanted to forget about her and move on. He didn't need her, he had friends and the pro heroes that could support him now, people who actually cared about him. And what did she do? She abandoned him, left him for dead when he was weak, defenseless, a child for crying out loud!

He gripped onto Ashido harder.

"What...what did she say?" The pink skinned girl he had been cuddling with asked, though her voice was soft. It wasn't mean or violent like how he was usually talked to.

"She- she didn't get to say a lot..." Izuku mumbled as he scooted away from Ashido. It's not that he didn't like her company, but he would much rather be with Todoroki or Kacchan. He felt safer that way. He sat on the edge of the bed and noticed how Todoroki was sitting in front of him now. Izuku hesitated but Todoroki held his arms out before he could get a word out. Honestly Izuku still didn't do all that well with communication but he was getting no somewhat used to acting on his own.

He reached forwards and fell into Todoroki, the taller boy catching him and incasing him with a warmth he was slowly getting familiar with. "You don't have to tell us, but you can talk about it if it makes you feel better," the dual haired teen said next to his ear.

Izuku only placed his head on the boy's left shoulder, "Talking makes it hurt more. Why does it hurt? She didn't- she didn't even touch me so why does it hurt? I talked to her about what I thought. I told her how angry I was at her but it still hurts."

A tuft of ash blond caught his eye and he looked over Todoroki's shoulder, only to see Kacchan there. "Where does it hurt?" He asked, the blond didn't seem angry or any other emotion Izuku could identify.

He hated it. He hated being different from everyone else. He hated being confused when people gave him these odd looks, looks that he didn't know what they meant. He wished he could've been normal. He wished he knew as much as everyone else does. Well, he knows more about things in certain departments but apparently children aren't supposed to have information or experience in the areas that he excelled in.

He wasn't supposed to be this fighting machine that obeyed someone's every order. He wasn't supposed to be straight faced all the time. He was allowed to express his feelings, sometimes he was even encouraged to do so here.

He was supposed to be _human_.

Then why didn't it feel like that? Why did these villains have to take away his happiness? Why did these villains have to hurt him so much? Why did his family leave him? And then, even after all that hurt and pain, he was just thrown around villain by villain like some sort of useless piece of trash.

It was his mom's fault, right? She was the one to abandon him so that makes sense.

So why did it hurt so much to see her cry? Why did it make him panic and make his eyes watery when she said she loved him? Was it because she was screaming? He supposed the screaming brought back terrible memories, but above all else...

She sounded like she was hurting like he was.

Izuku sniffled, feeling the water threaten to leave his eyes. _Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry_ , he chanted in his head as he moved his face to hide it in Todoroki's shoulder. "He-Here," he choked out as he guided Todoroki's hand to where his heart was. Izuku didn't know where in his chest it hurt but he supposed it was closest to his heart where the pain was the strongest. He hoped the dual haired teen would tell Kacchan as well, because the greenette couldn't do much better with his response as of right now.

The icy hand that was on his chest had slithered away until a second later Izuku was embraced by Todoroki with both arms. "It hurts in your heart..." Todoroki said aloud. Maybe he said it so Kacchan would know? "It's okay to cry, Izuku. I know you were probably told to stay strong a lot when you were little, hm? When you first got here you were always so serious but now...you don't have to be like that anymore. You can do what you want."

The freckled boy gripped onto the taller teen even more, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm doing everything wrong," Izuku began.

"You aren't doing anything wrong," he heard Kacchan say from somewhere, "Like he said, you don't have to say anything so...what do you want to do now?"

Izuku paused before speaking, "Cuddles from Kacchan and Todoroki...?" The other two in the room must not have heard him but Todoroki obviously did because he was closest to him. Izuku was surprised when he was being lifted up, still clinging to the front of Todoroki.

Todoroki had felt bad for Izuku, he really did. He hated just how hurt he sounded and how he was still trying to hide his feelings. It seems like his wall finally broke when the dual haired teen had felt the tears on his shoulder while holding Izuku. He really wanted to do whatever it took to make the greenette...well, to make him stop crying. No one had really been very successful when it came to making Izuku laugh or smile yet. Though there was that one time in the common room, they weren't sure if they could make the same thing happen.

Even so, if making Izuku feel better meant sharing cuddling time with _Bakugo_ , then Todoroki supposed he could let it slide.

He looked up to Ashido for a second before he spoke, "Uh- Ashido can you-" He had nodded his head to the door to indicate that he was trying to ask her to leave. Though he wasn't sure how exactly he should go about it in a polite way.

It seems like the pink haired girl understood as she smiled and nodded, standing up off the bed before saying her goodbye, "Bye then. Hope you feel better, Izuku!"

The greenette didn’t answer back, simply sniffling against Todoroki’s shoulder. He had his legs wrapped around the dual haired teen, in which Todoroki had headed to the bed and sat down, leaving Izuku to fall in his lap because of the way he was carrying him. And maybe it wasn’t a good idea to carry him like that? Because well... he had a really cute boy just sitting in his lap.

“Oi, get out of lala land and tell me what the fuck is happening,” Bakugo so rudely interrupted. _Right_ , Todoroki internally sighed, _he’s here too_.

“Izuku wanted cuddles,” Todoroki announced as he started rubbing the greenette’s back in a soothing motion. The greenette recoiled at the touch at first, but soon relaxed and melted against him.

“Okay then hand him to me and get the fuck out,” Bakugo snarled. Todoroki thinks that it was meant to be threatening and scary, though he didn’t seem to detect any of that in the ash blond’s expression. He looked more like an angry puppy or something of that sort.

Todoroki glared a little at the hotheaded teen, “I’m not. Izuku wanted the both of us to be here.”

Bakugo’s face scrunched up, “Hah? Like hell I’m gonna-”

“Sorry sorry...shouldn’t...no more asking. Shouldn’t have asked...” Izuku mumbled against his shirt.

Todoroki absolutely hated the way that Izuku thought. He hated how hard he was on himself and how he felt like he didn’t deserve half of the things he had- not even basic human kindness! It really made him wonder exactly what kind of life that Izuku had lived before this. He also had to wonder what made Izuku’s mood shift so drastically.

When he had first met them, he was so...dead. If looks could kill then Izuku would’ve been a mass killer with the amount of power his glare had held. Even Todoroki had to admit that the look was a little unnerving.

But now he was a little more open. Todoroki never would’ve expected him to cry but he was slightly relieved to know that Izuku was at least comfortable enough with them to do such a thing, to be that vulnerable in front of people unlike his old guarded self.

There was a grunt from Bakugo as he clicked his tongue, “Fine. Scoot the fuck over half and half. Don’t fucking think you’re gonna hog him all to yourself, bastard.”

Todoroki tapped Izuku’s back, “We have to lay down if you want to cuddle.”

Bakugo absolutely despised the idea of sharing with fucking half and half of all people, but apparently he could never fucking say no to Deku.

Which is how he ended up glaring at the two toned bitch while laying down in Deku’s bed. Though there was a little feeling of triumph when Deku decided to nuzzle his cute ass face against his chest. He felt the tears lightly soak his shirt but he ignored it.

He resisted the urge to snap when IcyHot bastard gave a little smile when he looked down to give Deku a mushy look. Ugh. It pissed him off even more when the bastard started to card his hands through the fluffy green locks, making Deku lean a little towards half and half in order to chase the touch.

He wanted to yell but his plan was cut off by Coca Cola himself, “Do you want to talk about it now? It’s fine if you don’t want to.”

A pause.

“Her name is Inko...” was all that Deku supplied.

Bakugo stilled.

“Long straight dark green hair, green eyes, and short?” The ash blond questioned. There’s no way it was Auntie Inko, his old hag’s friend. Inko had moved away after a while, in which Bakugo had heard that his old hag had still talked to her occasionally over the phone.

Deku looked up, taking his head away from Bakugo’s chest as he backed up the slightest bit, a cautious look on his face.

“You- you’re the- the baby in that ultrasound she had...it was from the same year I was born. She- what the fuck she said there were complications. She never fucking specified- she kept it. The picture. She kept it in a special place,” Bakugo tried to wrap his head around the whole thing.

He recalled what Inko had looked like whenever seeing the picture. She always looked at it with pain in her eyes. Like there was a whole story hidden in that photo that only she knew of. Like there was something beyond just losing a baby. It was something more than that. And knowing that the baby she had was _alive_ , that the kid she had was _Deku_ , well...

Something didn’t sit right with Bakugo.

Why would someone like Inko just give her child up? Bakugo knew that at the time that Deku would’ve been born- which also gave him an estimate on when Deku’s birthday was since he remembered that the date on the picture was in April. He only remembered because he pointed out that it was around the time that he was born. Not actual time, just the month and year. So if that was true, then Bakugo is sure that Deku’s birthday was in June or July, so he couldn’t be sure.

But at the time that Deku was born, Inko would’ve been financially stable enough to take care of Deku. There would’ve been no reason to give him up for adoption. Inko wouldn’t abandon him either so what was the damn reason behind all of this? Unless...Deku’s father was still around at the time. He could’ve done something.

Bakugo didn’t know anything about him though. He didn’t know about his personality or even what he looked like. He was a mysterious man that Inko always cared aside when the conversation came to him.

“Ultrasound...?” Deku looked confused. Oh boy would this be weird to explain.

“It’s a way to see if a baby is healthy when- when a woman is pregnant,” well thank fuck IcyHot did _something_ right.

“Oh...” Deku wiped his face a little. He looked up to Bakugo, “You know my mom?”

Bakugo paused before nodding, pulling the greenette a little closer. He had a little devilish twinkle in his eye when Peppermint boy had glared.

“She’s my mom’s friend,” he hated using such a positive word but he didn’t want to explain the nickname. “So that means you’re a Midoriya.” He didn’t necessarily like saying that, either. The last name felt so foreign on his tongue and he despised it.

“Midoriya? That’s a nice name. Izuku Midoriya,” Half and Half butted in for no damn reason.

“No. It’s not. It’s Yagi,” Deku retorted, “They called her Mrs. Yagi.”

“She got remarried then,” Bakugo voiced.

It probably wasn’t the right thing to say at that moment considering the dark look Deku had on his face afterwards. The greenette didn’t say anything in response and simply hid his face away again, exhaling shakily.

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence and after what felt like forever, Deku had started snoring softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been...a while haha


End file.
